


the mountains sink below me

by pettigrace



Series: why we look up to the sky [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Asexual Character, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Character of Faith, Fluff, Gay Raphael Santiago, Hispanic Character, Latino Character, M/M, Raphael is gay, Religious Conflict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-07-27 02:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7600528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pettigrace/pseuds/pettigrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raphael's the second in command of a renowed company in Manhattan. His work life couldn't be better - that is, until a mysterious man shows up and tells him that things aren't what they seem and that maybe, he should think outside the office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Graham Candy's "Holding Up Ballons".
> 
> Also, the following portrayal focuses on Raphael's position as a leader and probably won't fit to your usual perception of him in fics.

Raphael’s office is nowhere near perfect. For starters, he doesn’t have glass walls like Camille does that grant her a view into the hall to check if everyone’s working. His office’s wall are firm and isolate him from the rest of the floor. Sometimes it’s a blessing not to have to listen to their complains, other times it just makes his job seem… boring. Sure, he still has enough to do, but at times he’s still missing human contact.

But, to be frank, he has no rights to be upset about his situation. In contrast to his fellow workers, he has his own office at least. It’s one of the good things about Camille - if she puts you into a higher position, she’ll make sure you get treated as such. Of course, there’s still a difference between you and her but you’re still better than those who have to sit in front of their desk in one big room with no sign of privacy.

He likes having his own office. It gives him the feeling of being important, even if he barely does anything more than accept phone calls and do paperwork. He knows that without him, nothing would work in the company - especially when Camille disappears for weeks without even saying anything.

That’s exactly what’s happened today. Yesterday she’s been in her office and even welcomed a business partner for a lengthy discussion - today, however, there’s no trace of her. Raphael has tried to call her without any luck, checked if she’s written any notes or mails - of course not.

Luckily, the workers either don’t care or don’t notice their boss’s absence. They’ve accepted the orders that Raphael has given them (which don’t differ much from what they usually have to do) before he went back to his own office. He keeps the door open in case anyone needs anything - as mentioned, he doesn’t have the luxury of seeing when someone steps closer.

Of course, he could also use Camille’s office for today, technically, but he doesn’t dare to. Not only would she rip off his head if anything were out of place, but the things she seems to _do_ with those who come to visit her are nothing he’d want to stumble upon.

He sits behind his desk, a big folder with potential business partners opened in front of him that he has to look through and sort out, when he notices someone standing in the door.

The man standing there is Asian - Indonesian, maybe, but Raphael isn’t sure - and wears blue and pink highlights in his dark, gelled hair. He’s wearing a suit jacket with colourful sequins stitched onto it that shine differently with each change of perspective that Raphael makes.

Raphael’s sure he’s never seen him before (he’d probably remember such a sparkly person and his eyeliner) but then again, at times there are interns whom _he_ hasn’t employed but Isabelle, who’s job description says pretty much nothing but “people employer”. The way this man holds himself, though, is very confident and Raphael finds himself wondering if maybe he’s someone who has an appointment with Camille today.

“Can I help you?”, Raphael asks, getting up from his chair and steps forward a bit.

“Are you Raphael?”, the man replies.

For a second Raphael finds himself frowning. Apparently this guy is not a business partner after all, because those don't know his first name usually. Even when he's met them before, the representers of other companies call him by his last name. His co-workers, however, tend to address him with his first name -  only when they're allowed, of course. Raphael’s always thought it puts some ease to the whole work climate when you put yourself _almost_ on the same level as others. They still pay him the appropriate respect, but they're not deadly scared of him. The fact that Raphael has never seen this man before means that he can't have allowed him to call him Raphael. It throws him off a bit.

“Yes, that's me. How can I help you? Miss Belcourt is currently out of the house--”

“Oh no, I don't need to talk to Camille,” the man says and leaves the door frame. He walks along the shelves and eyes everything, stopping in front of the framed baseball that Raphael has put on display. “Is that an original?”

“Yes,” Raphael says. For some reason he feels like telling the stranger how his younger brother has caught it when they went to their first game after moving to New York. He bites it back, though, because it really is of no concern for someone who doesn't even know him. “That's not why you're here, is it?”

“While I agree that baseball is an, let's say, _attractive_ sport…,” the man chuckles softly before turning to face Raphael, “It actually is not.”

Raphael raises an eyebrow and holds the golden eyes’ stare. They somehow remind him of the eyes of a cat you encounter at night. They look like they could be the only thing you would notice in complete darkness, your only way to know a place is safe - a cat would never sit around if something bad would be happening.

And yet, the way the man presents himself, his secretiveness and certainty, send shivers down Raphael’s spine - he feels like this man has no business here, that he doesn't belong into his office nor into the whole company.

“Who are you?”, Raphael asks, overplaying his concern with annoyance. “Better answer -  I can easily have you thrown out.”

“Really?”, the man raises an eyebrow and steps forward.

There's only a chair between them and by the looks of it, the man is going to walk straight against it - but he doesn't.

 _Maybe the chair isn't as much in front of him as he thought_ , his mind supplies, _maybe he was able to make a swerve around it_. But at the same time, he sees how the other man’s legs practically comes _out_ of the chair and he steps forward and he can't help but let out a short yelp.

He can't do anything but stare at the man, he can't even take a step back because he's confused and, to be frank, afraid for a short moment. But then he comes to the conclusion that that must be a joke. This guy is probably a hologram that Camille has installed. The whole thing - her disappearance, this man showing up -  it's a joke of hers to watch him wet himself and laugh about him. That's probably it.

He reaches forward to check if the guy is real and smirks when his hand goes right through him. It _is_ a hologram - a good one at that, seeing how it doesn't even show any pixels at the disturbance.

He just wants to say something when someone appears in the doorframe.

“Raphael, is everything alright? We heard you-- well, I heard a noise.”, Lily, one of the workers voices. She actually sounds concerned and when Raphael shoots a look at her, she looks at him with big eyes.

“No, everything's fine.”, Raphael says and nods at the hologram. He's already let his hand sink again. “Camille’s just played a trick on me.”

“Seriously? Camille? What kind of trick?”, Lily asks with a smile on her face now. She lets go off the doorframe and comes into the room.

Raphael looks from her back to the hologram in confusion. She acts like she can't see the picture of that man standing in his office? “Well, this… _thing_ here.”

“What thing?”

The hologram smirks at him.

“This life-sized hologram right in front of me?”, Raphael says slowly. The hologram doesn't even twitch - there's no way it's visible for one person but not for another.

“I-- Sorry, Raphael? I think you might see phantoms-- you know, from the screen? Maybe you should relax from work for a while.”

Although Raphael wants to protest (he hasn't even worked on his computer for more than ten minutes), he doesn't. If he were to argue, Lily would never take him seriously again. She'd walk around and tell everyone that their temporary boss is hallucinating and then nobody would listen to him any more. That's nothing he can risk.

“I suppose you're right,” he says instead.

“Just make some phone calls instead or something,” Lily offers, “Is everything else okay?”

“Yes, totally,” Raphael forces a smile onto his face, “Thank you, Lily.”

She returns his smile before she leaves the room.

Raphael turns back to the figure in front of him and lunges his first forward to wipe away that arrogant smirk. His hand goes right through the other man’s face.

He steps back a step, caused by a mixture of surprise and fear, and stares at the golden eyes. “What are you?”

“Asking _what_ someone is, is very rude, Raphael, don't you agree?”, the man teases, raising an index finger as if he's talking to a small child. “But if you must know: I'm Magnus Bane and, well, I'm your Guardian Angel. Congratulations! I'm a real professional.”


	2. Chapter 1

“What?”, Raphael says, blinking at the man.

“You know, Guardian Angel? Wikipedia defines it as follows: ‘ _A guardian angel is an angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person_ \--’”

“I _know_ what a guardian angel is!”, Raphael cuts in, “I'm Catholic.”

The man - Magnus - nods. “I know that! After all I've been by your side for a while now. But you seemed a bit confused so I figured I might freshen up the knowledge.”

“What do you mean, _by my side for a while_?”, Raphael repeats. This guy just downright confessed to being a stalker. His eyes slide over to his desk where his phone lies. He should call the police. But how?

“Well, you get assigned a guardian angel at birth, usually. And you mustn't see them. Ever. Except--”

“Well, if that's the case, you're doing an awful job.”, Raphael huffs.

“ _Except_ ,” Magnus repeats, “for if the person you're keeping an eye on keeps messing up his life in a way that you can't help them physically.”

“What does _that_ mean?”

“Well, let's say my sheep works for a corrupt company. There's only so much alarms I can turn off in the morning before he decides to stay up the whole night just so he doesn't miss work in the morning.”, Magnus shrugs.

Raphael remembers that something like that has actually happened to him shortly after he got promoted. He's thought his alarm broke or that maybe his sleep has been to deep, so he'd bought a new (and louder) one. When he didn't hear that one either, he pulled about three all-nighters until even naps in the early evenings wouldn't make him stay up during the night.

“That was _you_?”, Raphael asks.

Magnus offers him a shy smile.

Raphael shakes his head and walks over to his desk. “So, let me summarize: you showed up because apparently, I'm fucking up my life? Why would you think that? Have you _seen_ my life?”

Magnus nods. “Like I said, been here for a while. I know that you pray all three Anglici Domini. I know that you try to visit your mother every Sunday but that it gets harder with all the work dropped on your shoulders. I even know what _magazines_ you read.”, Magnus grimaces.

“What magazines I… “, Raphael shivers when he realizes what he's talking about.

“And I know that the police wouldn't be able to see me.”, Magnus adds and nods at the phone that Raphael has picked up. “The cute girl hasn't seen me either, remember?”

Actually, that's some flawless logic. Raphael must've realized it, too, and yet he went to reach for his phone to call for help. What else should he do? Just accept that a stranger claims to be his guardian angel? That something like that exists in a manifested form?

“Why are you here?”, Raphael wants to know.

“To help you.”, Magnus replies seriously.

“With what exactly? And don't say ‘life’.”

“Or what?”, Magnus grins. “You'll throw a punch at me? I'm frightened.”

Raphael huffs and sinks back in his seat. From what he can tell, his personal guardian angel is a pretty annoying, self-loving prick. To think that he won't be able to just turn him away… “Can I turn you off somehow?”

Magnus chuckles. “I'm afraid not.”

Raphael sighs. “So, will you tell me what's so wrong about my life?”

“Uh, actually not. I mustn't tell. But I can give you tips. That's what I'm here for.”

“Amazing.”, Raphael murmurs and massages his nose.

“I'll wave at the right moment.”, Magnus promises.

Raphael raises an eyebrow at him. “Great. Can I work now?”

“Sure.”, Magnus says without doing anything.

“Um, can you, like, vanish? I don't know, do some angel magic.”

“Am I too distracting?”, Magnus wiggles with his eyebrows.

“Totally.”, Raphael deadpans. “If I could actually touch you I'd ravish you right here.”

“Thought so.”, Magnus grins. In the next moment, he's gone.

Raphael leans against the back of his chair and takes a few deep breaths as he closes his eyes. Lily must be right - this Magnus figure is nothing but his subconscious telling him he needs some rest. He must've seen his face somewhen before and just put it on his hallucinations face to make sure the advices won't just be pushed away.

Maybe he actually should take some days off and visit relatives in Mexico - he scoots away that thought as fast as it had come. With the perspective of Camille being gone, he can't just leave the company for who knows how long. He definitely can't go at the moment. He should talk to Camille once she's back and tell her to make sure she stays in the city for a whole week at least.

He sighs and starts working on the papers again to check what agreements Camille has made with their new partner last week. He knows that usually, there's no need for this - Camille somehow manages to arrange things to their profit every time - but he's rather save than sorry.

In the end, he's almost forgotten about the trick his mind has played on him. As boring as reading through contracts might be, it does occupy his full attention and makes time go by pretty fast.

He only looks up when he hears someone hum to the tune of an old Backstreet Boys song.

Raphael lifts his head, expecting to see Marlon walk past his office (since he knows that the secretary likes humming _a lot_ ), but there's nothing in front of the door. Maybe he's passed the room completely already.

He directs his eyes down at the paper he was reading again.

Suddenly there's a noise right beside his ear. “Boo!”

Raphael can't help shriek at the sound, jumping in his seat. His gaze glides over to where the sound came from - and land on Magnus. “Jesus--”

“No, Jesus was entirely different level of being sent down from heaven.”, Magnus tells him. “You know, he was actually pretty much a guardian angel but also not. It's been a confusing time, really.”

Raphael just blinks at him.

“Anyway,” Magnus leans over the desk, “How about you take a break?”

“It's only…”, Raphael shoots a look at the clock. It's roughly half past two already - he had thought it may be 1. “Oh wow.”

“Isn't it funny how time flies when we're busy?”, Magnus nods. “You should go out and have lunch. Or rather, breakfast. I know you haven't eaten anything yet.”

“I don't do breaks.”, Raphael shakes his head. He doesn't even feel hungry. He never eats anything before he's on his way home.

“Well, if your guardian Angel shows up to tell you you should take one, you might should consider it.”

“I _can't_ just take a break.”, Raphael tells him.

“You think your little army of workers won't be able to make an hour without you?”

Raphael runs a hand over his face and sighs.

“Just tell someone else go accept your calls or something. Maybe the cute girl from earlier?”, Magnus suggests.

“And leave the company without any leadership?”

“Oh, Raphael,” Magnus actually perfectly pronounces his name the Spanish way - something he only encounters when he visits his mother, “whoever wants to run in your door can probably wait for a few more hours.”

“Can't you just leave me alone?”, Raphael groans.

“I would if you listened to me.”

“You know what?”, Raphael says and gets up. He shrugs, “Fine. I'm going.”

Magnus stares at him, a wide grin slowly spreading out on his face. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, sure. Anything to get rid off you.”

 

Raphael really doesn't feel comfortable leaving the company. In the past three years he's worked here, he's never went out during work time unless he had a meeting at someone else’s place. Usually, he stays inside and does his best to make sure everything goes as planned and that everyone does their job - to be outside now is truly a strange feeling.

Magnus hasn't showed up since he told Lily to accept his incoming phone calls and to tell them he'd call back. Apparently, doing what his so-called guardian angel wants, really does make him leave him alone.

The streets of Manhattan are moderately empty, seeing how it’s the early afternoon of a Wednesday. And yet, he constantly looks from one side to another and back over his shoulder to make sure nobody sees where he’s going.

“You know, there’s this fantastic Italian restaurant down the street.”, a voice says next to him.

Raphael watches as Magnus points to his right and decides to ignore him.

“Or maybe Mexican? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”, Magnus continues, “Hey, that’s not a restaurant!”

Raphael can’t help but chuckle, albeit ironically, as he looks at the huge sign reading: DOROTHEA ROLLINS - PSYCHIATRIST.

“Oh, Raph, don’t do this,” Magnus tells him. “Pills are not going to make me go away.”

Raphael ignores him. It’s not like he really wants to go in just yet. Rather than that, he just wants to check if the hallucination disappears to the option of being treated. How he even comes up with that, he doesn’t know, but it seems to make sense to him. If he had not a single dime of control over it, Magnus surely would stay by his side.

“Look, if you take medicine you’ll only hurt yourself. I don’t know what they do to a guardian angel who gets his protege killed by an overdose, but it surely can’t be nice.”, Magnus says, stepping forward so that he’s between Raphael and the sign.

Raphael just looks past him.

“Tell you what. I’m gonna leave you alone for the rest of the day if you go now and eat something before heading back to the office, alright?”

Raphael sighs. He actually hasn’t planned to step inside. He knows that he’s not crazy - seeing things because of exhaustion is no reason to run to a psychiatrist. As soon as he’s had a week off, he will be back to normal.

Now that he’s already outside of the office, though, he could really go and grab something to eat. He turns and walks away from the building.

“Attaboy!”, Magnus shouts after him. Raphael doesn’t turn to look at him. It’s one thing to talk to a hallucination in the privacy of a room - to talk to one in the middle of the street another.


	3. Chapter 2

Raphael decided to go against his subconscious (aka Magnus) and went to an Indian restaurant instead. Seeing as he usually only grabs things to go on his way home, more often than not he ends up with fast food - even though it’s not what he’d actually want to have. 

He used to like cooking himself, to eat something healthy and balanced that he’s worked for himself, but with how busy he is at the moment, he’s glad if he manages to even devour what he buys as he makes his way through the streets. 

Magnus doesn’t show up as he waits for his  _ Chicken tikka masala _ to arrive which Raphael is really thankful for. He’s placed his phone on the table, the screen turned up so that he wouldn’t miss any kind of incoming notification. There’s been none so far.

His food tastes amazing. It’s been quite a while since he’s eaten something other than fries, kebab, or something Mexican that his mother has made. The mixture of curry and tomato is different and yet it tastes wonderful, not too hot and not too boring. Maybe he should visit restaurants more often.

He takes his time to eat and finish his drink and when he’s paid, he slowly makes his way back to the office. Since he hasn’t told Lily how long he’ll be out, there’s no need for him to rush back, he realized now. He walks past shops and looks into the windows - he almost feels like he hasn’t been out for years. 

Of course, he also catches a view of himself. He shouldn’t be this surprised, actually, that he’s lost weight, seeing how he’s aware of his reduced eating schedule, but he stops to look at himself for a moment. Not only is he thinner than he remembers, he also looks awfully pale for someone with Latin heritage. With the dark circles under his eyes, only sharp teeth are missing to make him look like a vampire.

He definitely needs to go on vacation.

  
  


“Did anyone call while I was gone?”, Raphael calls as he enters the office again. 

It’s close to 5 o’clock by now, meaning that there’s only half an hour of work time left. He’s had no means of staying outside for so long but somehow he also hadn’t been able to make himself go back for some reason. He hopes nothing big happened or else he’d have to work overtime.

“Uh, yes,” Lily says, getting up from her seat as he makes his way through the room, opening his coat, “Mr Morgenstern called about the gala next week…”

“Oh yes. We agreed to organize the catering.”, Raphael recalls. “I already ordered it. Does he want anything changed?”

“No, actually, he just wanted to remind you that you are invited, too. He told me it’s important to have multiple people representing--”

Raphael sighs. “And here I thought I could get out of that.”

They’ve entered his office by now and, like always, Lily stops at the door, leaning against the frame softly. Raphael leans his hands onto the desk.

“Mr Morgenstern noted you and a plus one. And same for Camille, of course.”, Lily continues.

Raphael bites down a groan. There’s no way Camille would put him as her plus one, which means he’d have to get himself his own. It wouldn’t be acceptable to appear on his own. Maybe he could bring his mother. He’s not sure if she would like something like that, but maybe it’s worth a try…

“Alright.”, he nods. “Did Valentine say anything else? Do I need to call him back?”

“No, nothing else.”

“That’s good. Thank you, Lily.”

She gives him a small smile before stepping out of the room. Well, if nothing goes right, he could probably still ask her.

He sits down at his desk and opens the files that are still spread out on it again. He hadn’t finished looking through all of them earlier, so he should finish them now before they lie around for the whole next week.

After some time, several people appear in the door to tell him they’re off. They don’t actually have to do that, since they’re free to go after five thirty, but he appreciates it. Somehow it proves of a healthy work relationship if they don’t just leave like that.

He tells each of them goodbye and smiles while doing so - honest smiles, even though they’re keeping him from finishing his work on time. He has that much understanding of etiquette.

Soon enough, he’s left alone again. There’s only a few pages left for him to read when his alarm goes off, announcing that it’s time to do the last Angelus Domini for today.

He turns it off and shoves himself a bit away from the desk, folding his hands in his laps as he starts murmuring:  _ “ _ _ Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae et…” _

When he’s finished, he keeps his eyes closed for a moment more and thinks about his day. Magnus crosses his mind, naturally, and he finds himself wondering if he really has been a sign sent by God rather than “just” a hallucination.

“It’s really impressive how you do that without even speaking a bit of Latin.”, he suddenly hears a voice.

Raphael opens his eyes and suppresses a groan as he sees Magnus. Maybe, if he stopped thinking about him, he wouldn’t appear. “One would think as an  _ angel _ you’d know not to interrupt people’s prayers.”

“You weren’t praying anymore.”, Magnus argues. “Why did you even pick up the  _ Angeli Domini _ ? Not even your mother--”

“Everyone lives out their faith differently.”, Raphael tells him and moves closer to the desk again. “I need to finish these papers.”

“Oh yes, you better read them.”, Magnus nods, “And read them closely.” His voice sounds like a conspiratory whisper, somehow.

Raphael rolls his eyes and does his best to concentrate on his reading. Luckily, Magnus stays quiet - or maybe he vanished again, Raphael wouldn’t know because he doesn’t look up.

 

Raphael wakes up at quarter to six the next morning, as he does every day. Even before he climbs out of his bed, he looks around carefully to make sure there’s no trace of Magnus.

The other man -  _ angel _ \- hadn’t come back last night. Raphael hasn’t seen him in the office any more, he hasn’t seen him on his way home and neither in his apartment. 

The fact that he isn’t here now makes Raphael grin inevitably. A good night’s sleep has gotten him rid off the jokes his mind has played on him, and his mood is better than usually.

When he goes to take a shower after his prayer, he actually sings on top of his lungs, feeling relieved and glad. For a frank while yesterday, he’d actually thought he’d go insane but now he knows that it had truly been a sign of exhaustion and nothing more.

Of course, that’s not how things really are. 

When he goes to leave his flat, the door doesn’t open. No matter how hard he turns the knob, it won’t let him out. He takes out his keys to check if he hasn’t locked it when he came home, but it’s supposed to be open. 

“What the--?”, Raphael mutters, rattling at the door once more. He takes a deep breath before shouting, “Magnus!”

Nothing happens. The door still won’t open and Raphael is still alone with his apartement.

“Magnus, I swear! If you don’t open this door I’m just-- I’m gonna throw myself out of the window. Don’t think your boss would like  _ that _ as much.”, Raphael continues.

“Do you really think I couldn’t prevent you from dying like that?”, Magnus suddenly says right next to him. 

“I don’t know, can you?”, Raphael shoots back. “Why can’t I leave my flat?”

“Magic.”, Magnus smiles. “I must say, I’m glad you accepted my existence now, though, Raph. This is the start of a great friendship.”

Raphael raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, don’t be like that. Why would you call me if you still think I’m not real?”

As a response, Raphael tries to open the door again. 

“This won’t work, honey.”, Magnus says softly and Raphael shoots him an angry look. He’s never been fond of nicknames. Especially not when the guy who holds you hostage calls you by them. “You could call the police, of course, but as you might remember: they won’t see me.”

Raphael huffs. “And why are you keeping me from leaving my flat?”

“Oh, I’m not keeping you from leaving.”, Magnus tells him and walks over to the couch. He drapes himself onto it - fascinating if you consider he walked through a chair just yesterday. “I’m keeping you from going to work.”

“Why?”

“Do you want a full list? There’s a lot of reasons.”, Magnus replies with a smile. “One is your hair.”

“My hair?”, Raphael repeats and raises a hand to touch it. He’s gelled it like every day, taming his curls to look acceptable. “What’s with my hair?”

“It needs a rest. As do you.”, Magnus says and pats the space next to him. His hand makes no noise as it touches the fabric. “Hair suffocates if you keep putting things into it every day. Sooner or later it will all fall out, which is a shame, really.”

“So… you’re keeping me at home because of my  _ hair _ .”, Raphael summarizes.

Magnus chuckles. “While that definitely sounds like something I would do… No, my friend. It’s just  _ one _ reason.”

“What’s the other?”

“One is that you need some more sleep and just, like,  _ chill _ , as the kids say.”, Magnus says. “Just enjoy yourself for a day. The other reason is that Camille is back.”

Raphael raises an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s great! Why would that be a reason for me to stay at home?”

Magnus sighs. His hair has green highlights in it today that glitters in the sunlight that slowly comes through the big windows of Raphael’s living room. He’s wearing dark pants and a pink jacket today. And despite green and pink being complementary colours, they look good on Magnus. “I usually shouldn’t directly tell you that, but you seem really clueless… Camille is a manipulative bitch.”

Raphael stares at him. He knows that Camille has her way of talking, using the right words so that you can’t say no to her unless you’re used to it (even now, Raphael struggles sometimes to think before he agrees). He also knows that she’s not the nicest person on the planet, but then again, he isn’t either. That’s just what you have to be like if you wanna make it.

“You really should reconsider working for her.”, Magnus closes.

“Fine, I will.”, Raphael promises half-heartedly. “But  _ reconsidering _ does not mean  _ not showing up _ .”

“Right. You should probably call in sick or something.”

“Are you serious?”

“Well, this door isn’t opening any time soon.”, Magnus says. “And if you really want to jump out of the window, I’ll make sure you survive, of course, but I can’t promise that you’ll be in condition to go to work then.”

“Wow.”, is all Raphael can say at that.

Magnus gives him a friendly smile. “I mean, you don’t have to call in. If you get fired, it’s even better.”

Raphael huffs in response and takes out his phone. There’s no way he’ll lose this job.

“Raphael, where are you?”, Camille hisses as she picks up.

Raphael can barely hide the surprise that, apparently, she’s already in the office. “I’m, uh, I’m at home.”, he says, “And I’ll stay here, actually. I’m… sick.”

“You’re sick.”, Camille repeats. “You never get sick! You don’t even sound sick!”

“I… I ate something bad yesterday. I’m really not feeling well.”, Raphael lies.

“And what am I supposed to do without you?”

“Tell her about the cute girl from yesterday. She can read through your files or whatever you have to do.”, Magnus suggests.

Raphael can’t help but agree. If there’s anyone who can do his job, it’s Lily. So he tells Camille.

“Lily?”, Camille repeats. “Who the hell is Lily?”

“Lily Chen. Just call for her, she will appear.”

Camille huffs. “You better be back tomorrow or I can’t promise you’ll  _ ever _ come back.”

“I will do my best, Camille.”

As a response, she hangs up. Raphael throws his phone at Magnus and eyes his with a frown. “Great, and what now?”

“Well, now, you could eat some breakfast. A big one. Make some fried eggs and all that. Treat yourself,” Magnus shrugs. “And then in the afternoon… Oh, I know! We could watch a movie! Or eat some ice cream! Or both!”

Raphael stares at him. How did he end up with such an extravagant guardian angel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not fret, my friends, this is indeed a Saphael fic! Simon will appear in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 3

Raphael is standing in his bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror. He’d just washed his hair (even if it’s mostly been so that Magnus would stop complaining about it), his wet curls hanging down onto his forehead. The sight is a rare one, seeing how the only time his hair is loose is when he goes to bed. 

Now, up close, he has a better look at the eyebags he’s seen yesterday already. They really are bad, which is weird since he feels pretty rested, actually. 

“Say, how come I even have this scar?”, Raphael wants to know, stroking his index finger over his cheek. He remembers getting it when he and some friends had kicked around an empty glass bottle. “Shouldn’t you have prevented it?”

“I was busy making sure the shard wouldn’t hit your  _ eye _ .”, Magnus says, crossing his arms. He’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub now - a moment before he wasn’t there. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

He’s gotten a bit more quiet than he’s been before, obviously glad that Raphael has followed his advices. He’s made him stay at home, eat breakfast and wash his hair. It truly must be a successful morning for him.

“I’m allowed to go out later, yeah?”

“ _ Allowed to _ ?”, Magnus repeats. “You  _ must _ ! Fresh air is very important. And so is lunch. Lunch has always been my favourite meal of the day, you know?”

“Why does this sound like you wanted to ask me out but don’t know how?”

“Oh, darling, you are a beautiful human being but since I saw you growing up, I’m not sure if our relationship would be respected.”, Magnus replies in a serious voice. “I think we’re more like brothers.”

Raphael huffs, “Do you have only one protege at a time?”

Magnus nods. “Two proteges would mean you get easily distracted by one and ignore the other or something, you know? So you stay with one person their entire life.”

“That’s… quite disturbing.”, Raphael says. To think that a stranger is watching you no matter what you do…

“Oh! Uh, we don’t have to literally  _ watch _ the entire time. We have, like, sensors, or rather, alarms when things get dangerous.”, Magnus explains. “And we can’t read minds, actually, which is really sad because it could prevent  _ so _ much.”

“Hm,” Raphael makes, “And people dying is caused by a bad guardian angel?”

“We aren’t perfect.”, Magnus says quietly. 

Raphael turns to look at him rather than view him through the mirror. Magnus’ smile is gone and he looks pretty  _ hurt _ , Raphael would dare to say. He wonders how many times Magnus hasn’t paid attention. 

And somehow, while that should be a reason for him to feel concerned, it makes him smile softly. He’s still not completely full of the idea of having a  _ guardian angel _ but if it’s one who knows of his own imperfections, it’s better than one who thinks too much of himself.

“Thank you.”, Raphael tells him.

Magnus looks up to him, surprise written onto his face. “I-- you’re welcome!”

 

Two hours later, Raphael finds himself outside. He’s wearing sunglasses but at the same time he’s carrying an umbrella. Magnus has said the weather is truly living up its autumn reputation and recommended he better take both things with him.

At the moment it’s pretty sunny and warm - in contrast to yesterday when he’s been freezing - but he knows it could change within a few seconds.

Magnus is actually by his side, but either he’s realized talking to each other would seem weird or he doesn’t feel the need to talk to him. Instead, he’s just walking and looking around.

Raphael wonders for a second if angels could be cold (Magnus is only wearing a shirt by now and doesn’t carry his jacket with him - maybe he could materialize it later again?) but then he remembers that, apparently, laws of physics don’t seem to apply to Magnus at all.

Today he’s decided to eat some Seafood for a change. It’s usually pretty expensive and he doesn’t have the time to deal with such complex eating rituals, so now that he’s got the whole day to himself, he decided to try it out.

Since it’s only one in the afternoon, there are no reservations and Raphael gets a table in the restaurant of his choice.

“Lobster isn’t actually that good,” Magnus tells him when he looks at the menu. 

Raphael had thought about ordering one because it seems like the thing to go with. “I thought you can’t read minds.”, he whispers through his teeth.

“I can’t, but it’s the thing people  _ always _ order.”, Magnus shrugs. “Shrimps are always good. And so diverse!”

When the waiter comes, Raphael orders flambéed shrimps and a glass of white wine. He doesn’t plan on getting drunk, but when he’s already in an expensive restaurant, he won’t drink anything cheap.

As it turns out, shrimps are not exactly what Raphael likes to eat. It doesn’t make him feel sick and he doesn’t feel the need to spit it out, but he doesn’t really  _ like _ it.

His thoughts must be written onto his face because Magnus laughs as he swallows one piece after another.

“Why don’t you just order something else?”

The reason is actually simple. Raphael hasn’t grown up being wealthy, so his mindset tells him to eat what he ordered without any complains. He should be happy he gets anything at all. 

Once he’s finished, he decides not to try his luck for another time and pays instead. 

Magnus is laughing again when he sees where Raphael is going to next. “Yes, ice cream will probably help get rid off the taste.”

“You probably knew I wouldn’t like it, did you?”

Magnus grins but shakes his head. “You’ve never eaten shrimps before so I wouldn’t know.”

 

Magnus has actually disappeared again once Raphael had been in line to get his cone. He’s glad that Magnus realizes when Raphael could possibly talk to him without seeming crazy and when not. 

Raphael accepts his ice cream and pays for it, leaving the change for the guy selling it. He’s in a strangely good mood, actually, even if he may lose his job because of what Magnus has done (Camille may have said it would depend on tomorrow, but you never know with her). He hums something as he walks through the streets and eats his ice cream and enjoys the day. 

That is, until two people come running at him, holding hands so that they can’t just walk past him but he has to step the side. He sees a head of long red hair and another head where glasses are the most prominent thing.

He tries his best to get out of the way, but somehow Glasses manages to collide with him. How exactly, he doesn’t know, but a second later halfway cold coffee is poured all over his shirt and he holds a guy in his arms, making sure he doesn’t crash into the ground. 

“Oh my god, I’m so  _ sorry _ \--”, the guy says quickly, trying his best to get into a vertical position again. “Are you alright?”

“Am  _ I _ \--?”, Raphael blinks. 

“Simon! What happened?”, the red-haired girls comes running back to them. She’s looking at her friend and then to Raphael and his ruined shirt. “Oh no.”

Raphael looks down at himself, too, his shirts is completely wet and seeing how it’s white, one can see through it now. 

“Oh no! No, shit--”, the guy blinks at him. “I’m so sorry, oh no-- I-- shit. Here, take my jacket?”

Before Raphael can even say anything, this Simon guy has stripped himself out of his jacket and pushed it into his arms. 

“I don’t really need--”

“Shall I pay for your laundry? I don’t have any money on me but I could--”

“No, there’s no need.”, Raphael says quickly, cutting him off. “It’s alright. You seem like you have to be somewhere.”, he adds. Initially he’d been felt a pang of anger but when he saw how sorry that guy seems to be, the feeling rushed away.

“I-- what? Uh, yes, we do…?”, the guy says and looks over to his friend.

She nods and grabs his hand again, pulling him away.

“Sorry again!”, the guy shouts over his shoulder before the turn around a corner.

Raphael stares after them before he realizes he’s still got the guy’s jacket. 

“Well, you better put that on.”, Magnus’ voice suddenly says, “If you don’t you’re probably gonna get a cold.”

“What was  _ that _ ?”, Raphael asks. “Shouldn’t you have prevented that?”

Magnus shrugs. “Did it endanger your life?  _ No _ , you even got a new jacket!”

Raphael frowns and looks at the grey sweat jacket. It certainly is nothing he’d wear if he had a choice. But Magnus is right, it got colder by now and with the wet shirt and wind, he’d catch a cold, so he puts it on, closing the zipper. “And how am I supposed to give it back?”

Magnus grins. “I’m sure you’ll meet him again.”


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank y'all for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoy this story so much :)
> 
> Second, I have not the slightest clue of economics or taxes so the following conflict is based on how much I gathered by logical thinking... who knows, maybe logic is nothing to use in economy. However, if it's dead wrong, let's just pretend the here mentioned reasons are valid in the AU this story is set in. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! Things are happening now!

Raphael plays a few notes on his piano to end the day appropriately. All in all, it's been a nice day. He hadn't even thought about anything but work ever since he started working for Camille. He's barely had a second to himself and even then, he wouldn't have thought about enjoying himself like this. And although he's done nothing special today, he's enjoyed himself more than usually. 

“You've always been pretty talented.”, Magnus remarks. He's lying on top of the piano, somehow managing to balance himself with his angelic powers or something the like. 

“Thank you,” Raphael says, trailing his fingers over the keys. 

“How come you stopped taking classes?”, Magnus wants to know. “You always enjoyed it.”

“No time,” Raphael replies. He did enjoy it, indeed, and his mother’s friendship to his teacher had made it be cheaper for him so they've always been able to pay, but with how busy he's been at the company, he just hadn't managed any more. 

“You take your job way too seriously, Raph.”, Magnus tells him. 

“Oh, really? You know, I kinda need it to survive.”, Raphael replies dryly. 

“Yes, of course. But, like, never even taking a break to eat? That much time must be.”, Magnus says. If Raphael didn't know any better, he'd think Magnus is actually concerned for him. Maybe he is, since he's known him for his whole life. 

“What happens if a guardian Angel has to take care of a total douchebag?”,  Raphael asks. “If they really can't stand them or something.”

“Nobody is a  _ total _ douchebag.”, Magnus says, “There's always more than one side to a person. If a protégé really is that much of a bad person, they wouldn't listen to you anyway.”

“But you could still physically keep them from doing things, couldn't you? You did that with me.”

“Where there's a will, there's a way.”, Magnus says, “You could've found a way to get to work if you hadn't listened to reason.”

Raphael thinks about it for a moment. There's been several things he could've done, probably. Like Magnus had said in the morning, he could've prevented him from dying if he had jumped out of a window, but he couldn't have stopped him from jumping, could he? 

“And you want to stop me from ruining my life. My job is what ruins my life, apparently?”

Magnus grimaces. “Well, not exactly. Your life is not completely ruined yet, but it's about to get worse. Not only because you're not taking care of yourself but because… of other things.”

“Which you won't tell me.”

“I mustn't.”

“Hm,” Raphael makes. “Am I allowed to go to work tomorrow then?”

Magnus considers it. “Yeah, I don't see why not.”

“Wonderful.”, Raphael says and gets up from his seat. “I think I'll take a shower and go to bed then. You won't follow me, will you?”

“Someone needs to make sure you don't slip in the shower!”, Magnus argues with a grin. 

Raphael doesn't know whether to laugh or groan so he just walks into the bathroom. 

 

Raphael had thought that the reason why Magnus lets him go to work would be that Camille isn't there. She really isn't there when he arrives - and when all of the workers have arrived. 

He doesn't know why Magnus thinks it's so necessary to keep him away from her, but he won't be one to argue with a higher power. He doesn't know if  _ this _ concept of guardian angels is the same as the religious one, if Magnus really is godsent, but he'd feel weird asking that. He just hopes so. 

There's a knock on the door that makes him look up from the article he's scanning through. Someone's posted their opinion on their products and he needs to make sure they're content. 

“Raphael?”, Lily’s head appears in the door. She looks quite uncomfortable, actually, with a few Brown folders pressed against her chest. “Do you have a second?”

“Yes, sure. What's up?”, Raphael asks and waves her in. 

“I was going through these files yesterday… Camille told me to do it because you weren't there--”

“Yes, I know, I told her to have you do my work.”

Lily gives him a smile for a second before her face falls serious again. She places a folder on the desk and shoves it over to him. “I noticed something in this one. That's about the expenses we made when we bought products and how much we earned, yeah?”

Raphael nods. He doesn't know why Lily tells him that because actually, that's normal for a company, but he has the feeling there's more to come. 

“So I noticed that in August, we paid way less than we earned. Like, we got paid four times more than we bought. Which is weird because the ratio is only roughly about 1:2, usually.”

“Well, there must've been things left in stock that have been sold additionally to the ones we newly produced.”, Raphael voices. He'd noticed that once, too, but it's something that can easily happen when you work with material products other than food. 

“That's what I thought, too.”, Lily nods. “But then I compared it to earlier bills. It's always the same.”

She hands him the other folders, too -  pretty much all months of the last year. Raphael opens a few and sees that, yes, it really is always like that. He must've seen it each time but never realized it's  _ always _ the case. 

“That's… But why would she do that?”

“I don't know, taxes?”, Lily asks. “That way we earn twice: once with the things we actually sell and then with what we don't pay to the state.”

Raphael looks down at the folder again. “Lily, do you--?”

“Raphi, how wonderful, you're back.”, Camille says, stalking into the room. She's wearing a short red dress and a big black hat that's pretty unnecessary inside. 

Raphael tries his best to hide the folders and make it seem unsuspicious at the same time. 

“What's going on here?”, Camille wants to know, her lips curling into a smile. 

“We, uh…  _ Lily _ \--”

“Mr Morgenstern called about the gala.”, Lily supplies. “He wanted to know if you and Raphael would come together or not.”

Camille’s smile grows wide and she's visibly trying not to laugh. “Me? Taking Raphael as my date? You better ask Valentine how much he really thinks of me.”

Raphael grimaces at that. He certainly wouldn't like taking Camille as his date either, but he wouldn't phrase it that ugly. 

“Yes, of course, Miss Belcourt. Will do.”, Lily says quickly. 

“Great.”, Camille says and waves her off. 

Lily throws a glance back at Raphael who nods. Camille seems to want to talk to him about something so Lily insisting to stay in the room could cause trouble. 

When she’s left, Camille leans over the table. “Listen, Raphi. You better not miss a whole day again. This company just doesn't work without you, alright? I thought hell would break lose…”

Raphael knows that she doesn't mean it like  _ that _ . She phrases it like she's praising him when actually she's just bitter that she could be faced with actual work. He doesn't know how she became the leader of the company if she's so afraid of working but he certainly knows she doesn't do much. 

“Yes, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.” Raphael tells her. “Won't happen again.”

“Good boy.”, Camille says and pats his head. Without waiting for a response, she leaves the room. 

Raphael lets out a sigh and throws himself back into his chair, taking one of the folders with him. 

If what Lily has noticed is true and done on purpose, the company would be facing big problems. One slip and they all would be ruined. No matter that nobody even  _ kne _ w what Camille was doing - every single employee would be blamed for not noticing. 

“ _ Dios Mio _ ,” Raphael mutters and rubs a hand over his face. 

“Not really,” an amused voice says from the corner of the room. 

“Magnus.”, Raphael breathes. For the first time in three days he'd forgotten about him. 

“Who did you think?”, the man grins and comes closer. 

“Is that what you were referring to?”, Raphael asks, holding up a few papers. 

Magnus nods. “Yes, that's one of the main reasons why I appeared.”

“And what am I supposed to do?”, Raphael asks, seriously demanding advice. 

“What do you think?”

Raphael gives him a sour look. “I can't just turn her in, can I? Public will get to know and then the whole company's screwed.”

“You'll also be screwed, as you say, if you don't do anything and the whole thing explodes by itself. This way you have a  _ chance _ .”

Raphael can't argue with that. Not only must Magnus’ opinion be the one that brings him most just by his status already, but he's right in general. Addressing corruption from the inside of a company means you can maybe hide the whole thing. Or show that not everyone meant it like that. And yet, it still doesn't mean he can just address it. After all, Camille probably knows how to pull all of them down with her. He needs to think of something. 

“ _ Dios _ , why couldn't you have just said something? Why haven't you, like, appeared before I got into that whole mess?”

“It wasn't the time yet.”

“Oh, really? So the right time is Eleventh Hour, yeah?”, Raphael raises an eyebrow. “You really do a lousy job.”

“Hey, I have rules, too!”, Magnus argues. “But it isn't too late now, you still have time!”

“And you won't tell me for how long, will you?” When he sees how Magnus has pressed his lips into a thin line, he huffs. “Of course not.”

“Raphael, I'm sorry…”, Magnus starts. 

“I just-- Leave me alone for a while, will you? I need to think.”

As a response, Magnus just disappears. 

 

Raphael has spent half his day brooding over the bills Lily had brought him, checking if maybe everything had been a big misunderstanding. Maybe there's just been a mistake in writing down the numbers or something else - but he hasn't been able to find anything. 

The rest of his time has been divided in wondering what to do and in actually doing his workload of the day. Since that means he's done more than usually, he only gets out of the office around 8. Everyone else has already left hours ago. 

For a split second Raphael thinks of breaking into Camille’s office to check if she hides something there. But then he remembers that she doesn't even lock it, so the chance of something dooming lying around is next to non-existent. 

Maybe he should just go home and sleep about it. He's always had the best ideas while sleeping. 

“Magnus?”, he whispers into the darkness as he locks the door. 

There's no response. He really must have pissed him off. On the bright side, Magnus not being here probably means he's not gonna get mugged tonight. At least one good thing. 

The streets are filled this time, lots of people coming home from work or tourists looking at the nightlife are crossing his path. It's loud out as they chatter and laugh. 

Raphael feels pretty lonely out of sudden. Usually he doesn't mind going home on his own, or being alone in general, but now that he's talked to Magnus almost all the time, he notices how he doesn't have any real friends. 

He mentally curses at himself. It's really not the time to feel sorry for yourself. After all, that's exactly what he's wanted his life to be like, wasn't it? Otherwise he would've changed it immediately. 

When he turns around the corner to enter his street, he almost runs into a group of people standing there.

There’s a few boys and a girl smoking, another boy is putting thing into a van, currently what seems to be a guitar case. Raphael raises an eyebrow when he recognizes him. 

And as if he's felt his eyes on him, the guy twirls around, directly facing Raphael. He seems to recognise him, as well, because his eyes are wide open and surprise is written onto his face. “You-- you're the coffee guy!”

Raphael nods slowly. “I am.”

The guy steps closer and smiles at him. “What a world!”

“I, uh-- Simon, right?”, when he nods, he continues, “I still have your jacket. At home, naturally. You can pick it up tomorrow if you like?”

“My…? Oh, right! I gave that to you, didn't I? Sorry again, Clary had her exam and we were late so we--”, he cuts himself off when Raphael raises an eyebrow. “Uh, yes, I'd like it back. Where shall I be?”

Raphael takes out his wallet and hands him a business card. “This is my work place. I'll be there till quarter past 6, but you better be there before 5:30, actually. Just ask for Raphael.”

“Raphael.”, Simon repeats, imitating the Spanish pronunciation. “I'll come by just after college. That will be at around 4?”

Raphael nods. “Great. I'll expect you.”

Simon smiles again. “Okay, see you tomorrow then. I need to get this car fixed.”, he says and point behind himself. 

Raphael shoots a look over his shoulder. “Did it break?”

“Uh, no. I just need to get this stuff inside. That's what I meant with ‘getting it fixed’.”

“Well then, you better go. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye!”

And then Raphael continues walking. 

“That was really smooth.”, he hears Magnus say. Suddenly he appears next to him. 

“What?”

“Oh, come on. Using that jacket to ask him to meet you.”, Magnus grins. 

Raphael rolls his eyes. “I just want to get rid off this stupid jacket.”

“Sure, tell that yourself. Wasn't he totally your type?”

“I didn't even look at him!”

“You thought he's cute, at least.  _ Raphael's got a crush on Solomon _ .”, he sings. 

“He wore a  _ Star Wars shirt _ !”, Raphael reminds him. 

“And I thought you didn't look at him?”,  Magnus teases. “He reminds me of a hamster, actually. Really cute with his big eyes behind those glasses…”

“Oh, shut up.”, Raphael mutters with a chuckle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, heads up! This story is finished already and I'm uploading a new chapter every day, in case you haven't noticed.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Wi-Fi is acting up, so I have to upload this via phone. Hope it doesn't screw up the formating. 
> 
> Have fun reading! :)

“Magnus?”,  Raphael calls into the dark. He's lying in his bed, facing the ceiling. Occasionally, a few lights from the street are illuminating it. 

“Yes?” 

In the next moment, Raphael can make out a silhouette next to himself, lying on his side to face him. A strangely intimate situation, actually. 

“You really can't help me with Camille, can you?”

“I wish I could.”, Magnus says. “But we aren't allowed to help our protégés  _ that _ much.”

“Hm,” Raphael makes. “I hope I do the right thing.”

“You already know what to do, Raph, just not how.”, Magnus reminds him. “You should get some sleep.”

“I will.”, Raphael says and closes his eyes. But then he remembers something else. “Magnus?”

“Yes?”

“I… Does  _ He _ mind?”

“Does He mind what?”

“... Gay people.”

Magnus chuckles softly. “No, He doesn't. As long as you are a good person… look, He even made me a guardian Angel despite me being a extravagant bisexual man when I was alive.”

Raphael feels a shiver run down his back, “Hang on, you’re dead?”

He can basically see Magnus roll his eyes playfully. “Well, how else would I become a Guardian Angel? Do you think one of the big ones came down from heaven and gave me some of their blood to drink?”

Even though he's just been told he's laying next to a  _ dead person _ , Raphael can't help but laugh at that suggestion. “How would one even come up with  _ that _ ?”

“There’s always strange people in the world, my friend. At my first job, the guy assumed I was the child of a demon - really strange… And if you knew what the girl in Peru did…”

“Do  _ you _ ever need sleep?”,  Raphael wants to know. 

“Me? No, didn't you pay attention? I'm d-e-a-d. Dead. I'm not even here physically.”

“I was just trying to make conversation.”, Raphael says to overplay his curiosity. 

“What you should try is the following: sleep. I could sing you a lullaby.”

“No, thank you.”, Raphael decides and closes his eyes. A few moments later, he hears Magnus sing softly nonetheless. It's pretty soothing, actually. 

 

Raphael's pretty relieved when Camille isn't in the office the next day. That way he can actually talk to Lily about her discoveries. Also, he's decided that maybe he should go check out Camille’s office after all. 

He updates Lily on their situation and tells her that they can't just tell everyone what Camille is doing. They need more evidence and a way of putting it so that they're not all affected by whatever happens after that. 

Luckily, Lily seems to understand the dilemma. For a short moment he'd thought she'd get angry at him for not turning Camille in immediately. 

“I figured as much.”, Lily says, “This is really an awful situation we're in.”

Raphael agrees. “I'm gonna look through Camille’s things later. Maybe I can find the real bills or something the like.”

“Good idea. Can I do anything?”

“You can keep an eye on my phone when I'm inside, if you like. Maybe Camille would text that she's coming in or something.”, Raphael says. “I don't want to die yet.”

Lily actually chuckles. She isn't that bad, Raphael thinks. “Will do.”

When he's back in his office, Raphael goes through his own files to look how much the production actually costs so that he can compare it later. Roughly estimating, the expenses must've been about twice as much as Camille has noted down. 

“Oh, Camille… why are you like this?”,  he mutters to himself. 

“She's one of those people who don't listen to their guardian angels.”, Magnus says. 

“Seriously? Have you met hers?”

“She just seems like such a person. Then again, she hardly ruins  _ her _ life with that. She has a safety net with her family, hasn't she? But take you, for example, you'd have nothing and your mother wouldn't be able to hold onto her house…”

“Are you just going to list up reasons why I need to stop her? Because I've already done that myself, thank you very much.”, Raphael tells him. 

“Alright, sorry.”, Magnus raises his hands in defense. “But what I want to say is: you don't have to worry about her because she certainly doesn't worry about  _ you _ .”

“I'd be lying if I said I actually thought about what happened to  _ her _ . I mean, sure, police will come and then she'll have to pay… but I was rather thinking about what happens to the others. I don't actually care about her.”

“But you care about the others?”, Magnus asks, “Do you even know half their names?”

“Probably not.”, Raphael admits. “But I know they're all doing their best, most likely. They don't deserve this.”

Magnus gives him a smile. “If I could touch you, I'd cuddle the hell out of you right now.”

“I'm glad you can't do that.”, Raphael grumbles. “Now let's get to business.”

“Lead the way, darling.”, Magnus says and gestures to the door. 

Of course, he's already in Camille’s office when Raphael enters. Raphael walks to her desk first, checking if she's left her laptop there. He doesn't find it, but there are multiple notebooks she has written into that he takes out. 

There's her diary (which he puts away for the moment since he really doesn't want to know  _ that _ much of her life), a collection of phone numbers, and at last a book full of alcoholic recipes. He really doesn't want to know why she stores it here. 

He decides that if he doesn't find anything else, he'd go back to the diary. Maybe she  _ did _ write something about how she lies to everyone down there. 

He gets up from her chair again and walks to the bureau to check for anything there. He pulls out several thick folder and sits down on the floor to look through them. 

Naturally, just when he sits there, someone knocks on the door. 

“Raphael?”, the man in a suit - Jordan? - asks, “Someone’s here for you.” He motions for someone to step closer and a second later Simon stands there, waving at him awkwardly. 

Immediately, Raphael gets up from the floor. “Thank you, Jordan. You can go.” 

Jordan nods and does as he's told.

“Hello,” Simon says, “Is this  _ your _ office?”

Raphael watches as he looks around. Then he moves to put the folders back into place. “Actually, no. Hang on, I'm gonna put this away and then you'll get your jacket.”

“Sure thing,” Simon eyes the big windows behind the desk. “Take your time.”

Once he's closed the bureau again, Raphael walks over to the desk and puts the notebooks away. He could still look at Camille’s diary the next time she's not in the office. 

“Okay, follow me.”, he orders and leaves the room. 

Simon tags along right behind him.

They enter Raphael’s office and he directly walks over to where he's put the bag with the jacket in it. 

“ _ That's _ your office?”

Raphael nods. 

“How old  _ are _ you? You look about 20 but there's no way you could have your own office if you were--”

Raphael can't help but give him an amused smirk. “I'm 22, actually.”

Simon’s mouth hangs open in awe and doesn't even close when he accepts the bag Raphael is handing him. He can't help but chuckle at the sight. 

“You can keep the bag,” Raphael offers but Simon shakes his head, saying how he'll put on the jacket right away anyway. 

“You should ask him out,” Magnus voice says, a mixture of tease and seriousness in it. 

“What?”,  Raphael makes and can't help but look for him. 

“Huh?”, Simon asks, “Everything alright?”

“Uh, yeah. I was just surprised it's already 5.”, Raphael quickly says. “Didn't you say you'd be here at 4?”

Simon starts  _ blushing _ at that. “I-- uh, Clary needed my help at the library and everything took much longer than we thought and then I had problems finding the building because I didn't think it would be  _ this _ \- if I'd known I'd have worn something nicer - and then it was already so late but you said I could come by until 5:30, so yeah, here I am.”

In the two times Raphael has actually seen and talked to Simon, he's noticed two things: first, he seems to be quite a bubbly person by nature, and second, he somehow manages to make a combination of jeans and shirt look ridiculous, no matter the colours. He's a bit taller than Raphael and has a very thin build, something that, on top of everything, makes him look even dorkier than his constant need of pushing his glasses up his nose. At the same time, he looks kind of cute. 

“It's alright.”, Raphael says to shut him up. 

“‘Adorkable’ is the word you're looking for.”, Magnus says, appearing behind Simon and looking him up and down. “This guy's the very definition of the word.”

Raphael huffs softly. Simon shoots him a look that's either surprised or frightened at that - he can tell that apparently he's intimidating the other. And while he knows he should enjoy it, the feeling of being superior, he doesn't. It's one thing to be respected, another to have people be scared of you. He thinks of how everyone in the office freezes as soon as Camille enters. That's certainly not what he wants to be like. 

“Listen, I get off in half an hour.”, Raphael says. “Would you… like to grab a drink?”

“What?”, Simon blinks at him. “I mean, I would but… With you? Also, I'm not even 21 yet, so I can't technically drink and no offense but you don't look like the guy to encourage that--”

“Non-alcoholic beverages.”, Raphael promises. “But I could understand if you wanted to get home first.”, he adds with a look at Simon’s messenger bag. 

“Good call, honey. Give him a choice.”, Magnus purrs. Raphael decides to ignore him. 

“No, it's fine, actually. My mum doesn't wait for me anyways… so, why not? I'd like that.”, Simon says and scratches the back of his head. 

“Great.”, Raphael nods. “I just need to write some mails and wait for the others to leave, then we can go.”

“That's… cool.”, Simon smiles. “Say, can I use the bathroom?”

Raphael gives him the directions, grinning on the inside about the question. 

When he's gone, Magnus appears. “Yay, you have a date!”, he grins and claps his hands excitedly. 

“It's  _ not _ a date!”, Raphael protests. He may have practically asked out Simon, but not with the intention of it being a  _ date _ . He doesn't even know if he really wants to get to know him more. It just felt appropriate to ask. 

“Sure it isn't.”, Magnus grins. 

“Oh, shut up.”, Raphael hisses and goes to sit down behind his desks. He actually has to write some mails. 

Magnus chuckles. “You'll thank me eventually.”


	7. Chapter 6

An hour later, Raphael finds himself in a small coffee shop. Simon has suggested it, and while Raphael had initially been thrown off by the name “Java Jones” that's been blinking at him in cheap LEDs, it turns out to be quite a comfy place. It's not too crowded but not empty either and the cup of coffee Raphael has ordered is delicious. Simon seems to be happy with his Caramel Macchiato, too. 

In their conversation Raphael learns quite a few things about Simon, seeing how he barely manages to shut up. It's quite amusing to watch him tell a story, get embarrassed by adding so many details in the middle of it, and yet continue talking. It truly is, like Magnus would put it, adorkable. 

He learns that Simon is 19 (“20 in a few months!”) and currently attending college. He's an accounting major although his true passion is his band. Apparently they're not very good, but they tend to score a gig every now and then. Last night, before Raphael has run into him, they've had one in a club that Raphael didn't even know existed. 

Raphael shares a few things with him, too. He doesn't even mean to, but apparently Simon has the effect of oversharing on him. Soon enough, he's told him how he's made it that far despite his young age. He tells him how he probably has only been employed because of quotas in the first place but that hard work and lots of fawning has brought him forward. He's not even embarrassed to admit that. 

Simon’s told him that he's Jewish when Raphael had asked him to stop walking at 6, taking a break to pray. Usually he doesn't do it outside and especially not with someone around, but now he had already gone out with Simon without even thinking about it. Simon hadn't minded, instead he's admitted that he finds it impressive how seriously Raphael takes his faith. 

Actually, that's a better reaction than Raphael had expected. Every so often you read articles where people of faith are reduced or labeled as crazy, so having someone around who doesn't think the worst of it is nice. 

He's actually enjoying himself as he talks to Simon. There's barely been any opportunity for him to talk about anything else than work in the past few years. His conversation with Magnus have been more personal, too, but they've still been on a different level because Magnus knows almost every detail of his life already. Simon, however, takes everything in with raw emotion, getting to listen to that for the first time. He shows surprise at things, sympathy when Raphael says how his family moved to New York after his youngest brother died… It's refreshing to have someone actually attention to him as a person. 

When they've finished their second cups, they decide to take a walk. It's still early, not even 9, when they leave the shop and enter the streets. 

“Hey, if your company ever needs someone to proofread their bills, you can call me.”, Simon grins when Raphael’s answered his question on what exactly he has to do in his job. 

For a moment, Raphael stops breathing. Does Simon know what's happening in the company? Has he just pretended to not have known about the mere existence of it only hours ago? He decides to hope for the better option and chuckles, probably a few octaves too high, “You better finish studying first.”

“Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe I'd even understand something then.”

Raphael gives him a soft smile. Simon has told him how he's not even too fond of mathematics but that his mum thought he'd have better chances if he studied accounting rather than music. He’s listened to her without batting an eye. Raphael has always liked people who respect their mothers.

“Oh, I think I should slowly get going.”, Simon says with a look at his phone. 

“Right.”, Raphael breathes. “How do you get home?”

“I'm gonna take a subway.”, Simon shrugs. “Unless you have a super fancy car. Then I'll totally take that.”

Raphael shakes his head. “I'll walk you to the station.”

 

Later that night, when Raphael’s lying in bed, he lets the evening happen in revue. He's certainly enjoyed spending time with Simon. Their conversations had come naturally to him, and even if Simon looked embarrassed at some things he said, Raphael hadn't considered it awkward once. Sure, they hadn't been really sure how to say goodbye - Raphael wouldn't have felt comfortable with a hug but a handshake would have been way too formal so they just went with nodding at each other - but it didn't ruin the experience. 

“Hey Romeo, you are an idiot.” Raphael wonders if Magnus does it on purpose that he only becomes visible  _ after _ talking to him. 

“What do you mean?”

“You didn't ask him for his number.”, Magnus says. His face is wearing an expression that's unreadable. In one moment he seems to be smirking, in the next he looks like he feels sorry for him. “Tell me, why couldn't you remind me of that earlier?”

Magnus shrugs. “Didn't want to interrupt your date.”

Raphael huffs. “You're really a great guardian Angel. Anyway, I don't know in which century you live but in this one we have this great invention called Facebook.”

“So what, you're gonna stalk every single Simon that lives in New York? Because that will only be, like, multiple thousands.”

“What else am I supposed to do? Wait in that coffee shop every night, hoping he shows up?”

Magnus face lights up at that. 

“Oh no.”, Raphael says firmly. “Not happening. I don't have time for this. Do I need to remind you of what's happening at the company?”

“Hey, if you meet him again, you'll have a boyfriend at least when every other part of your life goes downhill.”, Magnus offers. 

Raphael stares at him. “First of all, a boyfriend won't bring me much if everything else is crap. Second, I don't even know if he  _ likes _ men. From the sounds of it, that Clary girl seems to be his girlfriend.”

“You wouldn't know for sure.”, Magnus argues. Then a grin spreads out on his face. “At least you didn't claim you weren't interested in him.”

Raphael snorts in response. It's not like he has a  _ crush _ on Simon. It's been nice to talk to him, to have a contact outside of work for once. Simon’s been funny, in a weird kind of way, and he doesn't look  _ that _ bad, Raphael guesses, if you're into that look. He'd like to meet him again, simply because he kind of likes him. That's all. 

“Proud of you.”, Magnus murmurs. “Now get some rest.”

 

Camille is not back the next day. Wherever she may be, her trip will probably extend itself over the whole weekend. Raphael wonders how she can be CEO of the company and only be there about 10% of the time. He knows that each of the employees, including him, has probably more work to do than they're supposed to, but only now he realizes that it's simply because Camille doesn't do  _ anything _ . 

Except faking bills. 

The day's over by now and while he's done his usual workload during the day, now that everyone's gone, he's in Camille’s office again. Since Simon has interrupted him yesterday, he still has to finish looking through the folders in her cupboard. 

Magnus had said it would be a good idea and Raphael guessed if his guardian angel doesn’t put in a veto, there’s really no reason for him to not do it today. 

He's just pulled some of them out when he hears a sound from the main room. There's someone walking through it, high heels clacking as they touch the ground. 

Raphael’s first instinct is to hide under the desk. If that's Camille, she's going to fire him immediately. She's going to be furious and ruin his reputation completely - Raphael doesn't think she's above inventing stories on what exactly he's doing here. 

But then again, even if she didn't see him, he'd be unemployed in a few weeks anyway. Every corruption she's been doing would be made public and they'd all be doomed. If he were to talk to her, he could maybe stop it from happening. 

He thinks about asking Magnus if that's really Camille, but he probably would claim that he's not able to tell him. Also, what would it look like if she caught him talking to the air? 

So instead of saying anything, he takes a deep breath and straightens his shoulders, bracing himself as the steps come nearer. He'd face Camille, tell her that he knows everything and won't be afraid to tell the police. 

“Uh, sorry, I just forgot my-- Oh. Raphael,” Lily stops when she appears in the room. 

“What are you still doing here?”

“Well, I’d thought of snooping around in Camille’s office, but apparently you had the same thought.”, she looks down at the folders spread out in front of him.

“Are you crazy? She’d have fired you if she noticed!”

“That’s why I was gonna say I forgot my jacket in case she was here. You know, when I already was in and saw the light burning, I couldn’t just leave again, could I?”, Lily raises an eyebrow. “Besides, she could fire you, too.”

Raphael huffs softly. He’d always known that Lily is precise in her work, but he’d never even have thought she’d follow this so much she’d deliberately risk her job even though she doesn’t know it’s  _ really _ going off in the end. Except… Did her guardian angel appear, too? He’d ask, but if she hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about, she’d probably call him into a mental hospital, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“I suppose you’re not leaving, are you?”

Lily shakes her head.

Raphael can’t help but send a quick smile into her direction. “Well, then you can look into Camille’s diary. I really don’t wanna step further into her life than necessary.”

They both scan through the respective papers, standing side by side, and saying no word. Somewhere Camille must have put the original receipts - if they aren’t here, they’re at her home and there’s no way he could get inside of  _ that _ .

So far, all he sees is that Camille’s kept copies of the bills he’s got in his folders, too. They’re neatly sorted - the sheets are clean, no writing on the margins like his have.

“Oh, hey, here’s something!”, Lily suddenly exclaims, holding up a piece of paper that’s been folded multiple times. She’s opened it already and hands it over to him. 

As he looks at it, he sees that it’s from earlier this year. Down there, the expenses have been way higher as in the official papers, he realizes when he compares it to those Camille has put into her folder. There are even annotations that show someone wondering about how much they can hide of those without being too suspicious.

“Are there more of those?”, he wants to know.

Lily just picks up the book and turns it over - making all loose pages slide out. Not all of them are bills, but there’s enough to prove that Camille has done this multiple times. 

Raphael collects them and puts them into his pocket without saying more than, “We’re so screwed.”

“Are we really? What are we gonna do?”

“To be honest, I don’t know yet.”, Raphael tells her, not looking away from her as he says it. He doesn’t want to make excuses for himself but stand for what he’s doing or not doing. “But I’ll figure something out.”


	8. Chapter 7

After he and Lily have left the building, Raphael is still carrying the original receipts in his pants’ pocket. He’s figured he’d better take them home so that they won’t disappear. Maybe having them in his hands will help him figure out what to do.

Should he just confront Camille? Should he directly go to the police? The first option would mean that maybe Camille would leave without putting up a big show. Even if she wouldn’t have any problems paying a fee, the story landing in the newspaper would mean her reputation could be (at least temporarily) ruined. If she left on her own terms, though, the company could continue existing because they could keep it a secret.

Yes, talking to her directly would probably be the best option for everyone. But how is he supposed to do it? Just go into her office and tell her? He doesn’t know if that would be so clever.

He could probably ask Magnus about it, but when he and Lily have said goodbye, his feet don’t carry him to his flat. Instead, he finds himself at Java Jones only a few minutes later.

It’s crowded this time and for a moment he’s confused until he realizes it’s a Friday night. There’s lots of teenagers occupying the seats and he’s glad when he’s made his way to the counter. He’s decided to leave once he’s gotten his drink because it would be way too full for him to catch a clear thought, but he stops dead on his tracks when he sees a familiar figure sitting at the counter, exchanging a few words with the barista.

When the barista calls out his name, Simon actually looks up - as if there aren’t thousands of Raphaels in the city - and catches his eye. Raphael walks over to where he is (after all his coffee is also there) and watches how Simon says something to the blonde guy. He shrugs as an answer and puts the cup down on the counter.

Simon’s picked it up when Raphael is close enough to him to say something and holds it out. “Caramel Macchiato?”, he asks with a smile.

“You seemed to enjoy it.”, Raphael states and accepts the cup. “Is it always so full on Fridays?”

“Oh, this? That’s nothing. Sometimes they have poetry slams here… _Then_ it’s full.”

“Seriously?”, Raphael asks. From what he’s seen, mostly college kids seem to frequent the shop. He wouldn’t have thought those to be really into _poetry slams_.

Simon nods. “Uh. Would you like to go outside? Like, take a walk?”

Raphael nods. He doesn’t think they’d really be able to hold a conversation over the overall noise that’s in the shop.

He leads the way outside and soon enough, they find themselves side by side.

“Are you coming from work?”, Simon asks, looking at Raphael’s suit jacket.

Raphael nods. “Something… happened and I had to stay longer.”

“Oh, that sucks.”, Simon says. “I hope I don’t have to ever work overtime. I barely manage to get to _one_ of my classes, let alone stay at college for a whole day.”

“So you don’t live on campus?”

Simon shakes his head with a smile. “I’m Brooklyn born, raised and living. You’ll probably have to dig out my bones there.”

“Really?”, Raphael asks. “And why are you in a coffeeshop in Spanish Harlem?”

“I go to Columbia.”, Simon states.

He looks excited about it, actually, despite the fact that he told him it wasn’t his initial dream only yesterday. But his eyes are sparkling as he tells him that. He’s smiling constantly and Raphael can make out fair shadows just above his lips, indicating the growth of a moustache.

“This would be a good time to ask him.”, Magnus suddenly says, a miniature version of him appearing on Simon’s shoulder.

“What?”

Simon’s grin grows wider. “I know right? Clary’s been dreaming of attending that school since forever--”

“Ask him for his number, _idiota_.”, Magnus continues and rolls his eyes. “Come on, love yourself a little.”

“Have you ever _been_ to the collection of the Art Academy?”, Simon asks, his voice full of excitement. When Raphael shakes his head, he adds, “Oh, let's go there! Not now, obviously. Just… when you've got time? Sunday maybe? Shit, I totally forgot to ask-- Do you even _want_?”

“Simon, don't hurt yourself,” Raphael says softly and puts his hand on the other man’s arm, “I'd love to go there with you. I enjoy art quite a lot. I just don't have time on Sunday. I'm visiting my mother.”

“Oh yes! You mentioned that. I should've kept that in mind, sorry.”, Simon says quickly.

“It's alright, don't worry. Why don't you give me your number so we can check up with each other?”

“My…? Oh, yes, sure!”, Simon says with a smile.

He types in his number when Raphael has handed him his phone, saving it with his full name. Raphael registers his last name being _Lewis_. It's has a nice ring on it for being such a simple name.

Magnus holds out his thumb in praise before he finally vanishes from Simon’s shoulder.

“Great,” Raphael says as he pockets his phone again. “I'll text you when I've got time. _Promesa_.”

“Cool. I'm looking forward to it.”, Simon tells him. The smile hasn't left his face yet, but it vanishes as he seems to realise something. “Oh, you wanted to get home, didn't you? And I'm keeping you… “

“It's fine. I wouldn't have agreed to take this walk with you if I was desperate to get home.”, Raphael answers.

“That almost sounds like you don't _want_ to go home. Trouble with your girlfriend?”

Raphael stares at him for a moment. He knows that he isn't the least attractive man if he takes care of himself, but Simon thinking he has a girlfriend makes him chuckle. “Oh, no, I live alone. I'm single.”

“Really?”, Simon makes big eyes. “Wow.”

“Surprised?”

“Honestly? Yes. A bit.”

Raphael empties his cup and throws it into the next bin they come across. Now that his hands are empty, he notices that Simon has buried his own in the pockets of his sweat jacket - the jacket he had lent Raphael. He wonders if he has any other jackets at all. Somehow, the image of Simon wearing a suit jacket makes him smile.

“I think I need to head back soon.”, Simon says and shoots a look at his phone. “Jace said he'd take me home since he's gonna pick up Clary for a date but if I'm not there when he leaves, he'd probably have no problem with going alone.”

Raphael doesn't know who this Jace is - he can't recall that Simon has ever mentioned him - but he nods. “We actually already walked past my apartment…”

“What?”, Simon asks. “You live in this block?”

Raphael nods.

“Man, that means we could've met each other before! I mean, I'm at Java Jones almost every day.”

The smooth thing to say would be ‘I would've remembered you’. However, that would've been a downright lie. Simon’s not exactly the kind of guy who would've caught his attention just by crossing his path. If he hadn't insisted on giving him his jacket, Raphael would've forgotten about him despite their joyless first encounter.

“Funny, isn't it?”, he says instead.

They've turned around to walk back into the direction of the shop and are almost at Raphael’s building. They say their goodbyes the same way as yesterday - a simple nod and an awkward smile - and then Raphael grabs his keys and opens the door.

Simons already walked a bit when Raphael calls for him. He doesn't know what makes him do it, but when Simon stops and throws a look back at him, he says, “For the record, even if I weren't single, I wouldn't have a _girl_ friend.”

And then he goes inside without waiting for Simon’s response.

When he enters his flat, he leans against the door as soon as he's closed it, horror creeping up his neck. “ _Dios Mio_ , why did I say that?”

“Well, if I had to rate your performance, I'd give you 8 out of 10 stars.”, Magnus says. “You missed a few cues here and there.”

Raphael finds him on the couch when he turns on the light and decides to sit down, too.

“You didn't make me say the last few words, did you?”

“I can't _force_ you to do anything, my friend.”

“But you could've stopped me! Somehow!”, Raphael claims. Magnus had argued before that he's only supposed to do something in life threatening situations and although Raphael feels like the personification of the word “embarrassment”, he knows that it's really not where Magnus should've done anything. Especially not when it's been such a  shortcut reaction that he hadn't even realized it himself before he's done it.

Magnus just shrugs, lifting his shoulders. Today he's wearing a dark muscle shirt, despite it being autumn, and poured glitter onto his shoulders, making them shine in the motion.

“Okay,” Raphael says, placing his hands in his lap. “I have worse things to worry about.”

“Right on.”, Magnus nods. “What's the plan with Camille?”

Raphael swallows. “I'm gonna confront her next time she's in the office. Tell her that I know everything.”

“That's good.”, Magnus comments. Raphael had thought he'd give him a smile or one of his almost fatherly speeches, but the other surprises him by making such a simple statement. His voice is as neutral as his face is.

“Is it bad that I kind of hope she's not back on Monday?”, Raphael voices.

As a response, Magnus chuckles softly. It doesn't sound too honest, however. “No, I get it.”

“I need a shower.”, Raphael sighs and motions to leave.

“Don't forget about dinner, sweetheart. Haven't had any yet!”, Magnus argues, getting up from his seat and raising his finger at him.

“Yeah, sure.”, Raphael playfully rolls his eyes. “Will do.”

Somehow, it feels good to have someone care for his nutrition. He'd almost forgotten what that's like.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was my favourite to write, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Despite the fact that all of her sons have been born in Mexico, ever since they came to New York, Guadalupe Santiago has always insisted that they speak English - even at home. Naturally, she'd let a few Spanish words slip when she can't remember what they mean in English.

Overall an attractive woman (Raphael recalls some of his brother’s High School friends actually calling her a MILF - he wishes he'd never found out what that means), the things that she has been faced with in the past are sometimes visible in her face, even though she smiles a lot. Losing a son had been hard on her, especially when her husband had left soon after - causing the family to leave the state eventually. Guadalupe has been everything to her children since then - mother, father, nanny, doctor. Raphael doesn't know how she's done it, but he's glad that he's able to pay her back somehow.

Only two of her sons are left at home: Diego, who is in his early teenage years, and the ten-year-old Franco. Ricardo, the oldest after Raphael, has just started college and barely manages to pay for everything with the job he's juggling while doing his best in classes.

The house the family is living in is not too big and probably wouldn't be that difficult to pay - that is, if you are an American family where the father goes to work and gets paid appropriately. Raphael gladly gives half his salary so that his mum doesn't have to continue maintaining two jobs at the same time like she used to do.

Although he hasn't actually done much more at work than he does now, he barely ever found his time to make it to the Sunday lunch that his mother invites him to every week. He sees her regularly at their church, but it's different from being at home and actually have conversations with her and his brothers. He'd always go home after church and read back on articles about people ranking their products, wonder how they could get more partners or cut back expenses - oh, if he only had known that Camille has that packed already.

Today, however, he's tagged along with his family. His mother had been smiling harder than he'd seen on her in a while and Franco had been jumping around him for the whole way.

After lunch, Diego excuses himself and asks if it were okay if he went out.

“To visit his _girlfriend_.”, Franco tells Raphael in a loud whisper.

Raphael can see how Diego blushes and remarks how he doesn't deny it.

“Yes, of course, Diego, you can leave.”, Guadalupe says. “Franco, why don't you show Ricardo what you learned in your music class last week?”

Her broad hint is more obvious than not, and soon enough everyone but her and Raphael have left. She eyes him with a soft smile on her lips before reaching over to put a hand on his. “You look better than last week, _cariño_.”

“I also feel better.”, Raphael admits. It's weird actually, seeing how this has probably been the most confusing and troublesome week for a long time. So many things have happened, and yet Raphael feels more like himself than usually.

“That's good to hear.”, his mother nods. “But something’s up, _verdad_?”

Raphael considers what he should answer.

Telling her about what's happening in the company could make her worry unnecessarily - he doesn't know the outcome of it yet, but his mother would probably expect the worst and be scared for her sons’ well-being. She's been through a lot already and eventually, it will be too much.

He'd have loved to tell her about Simon - how he feels like seeing the sun for the first time after a storm whenever he sets his eyes on him. How he has to grin as soon as Simon starts telling something with excited gestures. He'd like to ask her if he should text him and _what_ to write. But he doesn't tell her because he isn't sure himself what it means. He knows that his mother loves him but at the same time, he knows from first-hand experience how difficult the world makes it to connect faith and any other orientation than heterosexuality. There is a time for him to tell her, but it's probably not today.

“I've met my guardian angel, mamá.”, he says instead. He doesn't know why he'd feel comfortable telling her _that_ when he's thought himself it's a sign of going crazy. Maybe it's because _she’s_ the one who had raised him in the knowledge that angels may exist and that life can always be better.

“You did?”, Guadalupe asks. “Did he help you feel better?” He probably shouldn't be surprised that she just accepts it like that but for a second his face must've slipped because she adds, “It's best to listen to him, even if what he suggests doesn't look like the best option available.”

“Have you _met_ your guardian angel?”

His mother smiles. “Oh yes, _sí, sí._ Jeremías has been the one who recommended leaving _México_.”

“Really?”, Raphael asks. “I didn't know that.”

“Of course you didn't.”, a voice from behind his mother says. He looks up to see Magnus standing there. “You didn't want to tell anyone about me either, did you?”

“Do you want to talk about why he showed up for you, _mijo_?“, Guadalupe asks.

Raphael shakes his head. “Let's see if it's even worth the worry.”

“If your _ángel custodio_ appears, it probably is.”, she laughs. “But I understand if you don't want to share it.”

“I've always liked her.”, Magnus smiles. “Your mum is a remarkable woman.”

“Thank you.”, Raphael answers, directed at both Magnus and his mother.

  


Raphael’s never been so anxious to go to work - not even when he’s been new to the job. He’s overplayed each and everything that could happen once he’s faced Camille. However, that still doesn’t tell him _which_ of those scenarios he’s dealing with.

A part of him is relieved when she isn’t in the office on Monday. Another part of him is silently cursing at her for not being there and at himself for being happy about it. He should get over with his whole thing as soon as possible before it blows up.

Lily comes to ask him if he has an idea what to do now and he tells her that he’s going to talk to Camille - in person, seeing as this is certainly nothing you deal with via a phone call. She looks like she’s _scared_ for him.

“Oh, come, Camille’s not going to kill me.”, Raphael assures her.

“I’m not really sure if she’s above that.”, Lily answers but then she pulls out some letters that have arrived earlier that he has to read through. “I’m not sure if I should hope she’s back tomorrow.”

“Just don’t tell anyone, will you? We don’t want to cause a panic.”

“Duh.”, Lily makes. “I’m not stupid.”

Raphael had been tense the entire day - expecting Camille to show up any second - and the only thing that’s kept him from doing something stupid has been Magnus who appeared to just chatter with him. He’s started talking about everything and nothing and actually managed to distract him.

“You could ask Simon if he’s gonna go to that gala with you,” Magnus offers, more lying than sitting on one of the chairs in Raphael’s office.

Raphael snorts. It has crossed his mind, but he’d shooed the thought away because of two simple reasons.

First, he doesn’t know if he’ll even still work at this company on Friday. Or if the company will still _exist_ on Friday.  

And second, he has no clue where he and Simon stand. They’ve met four times in a whole and while Raphael can’t deny that he _likes_ the other, somehow, he doesn’t know if it’s the same for Simon. He doesn’t know if he likes boys. Or if he likes Raphael. Simon seems to be just this _nice_ guy who’d invite everyone to visit an art gallery with him.

“Better safe than sorry.”, Magnus continues. “Imagine you’d show up there without a date.”

And just like it was called to, his phone goes off and shows a message from Simon, asking if he’s had dinner already.

“Is that him?”, Magnus asks and before Raphael can answer, he’s beamed himself next to him, reading over his shoulder. “Oh man, he’s asking you out!”

“What? He’s not!”

“Yes, he is, don’t be daft. Anyway, you haven’t actually eaten yet, so you better say yes to wherever he’s inviting you.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Raphael hisses and rolls his eyes.

“Sweetheart, may I remind you that that’s the very reason I’m here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the lovely comments, they mean a lot :)


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

**From Simon Lewis:** Hey, its simon :) hve u had dinner already? Im @ jj  & could use sum.

**To Simon Lewis:** Actually, I haven’t. I’m still at work, though.

**From Simon Lewis:** Oh, thats cool! I can wait 4 u outside of it then. If u evn wanna? 

**To Simon Lewis:** Yeah, sure, why not? I’ll be out around 6. Probably a few minutes later.

**From Simon Lewis** : Oh yeah, the prayer. I geddit. See u then! :D

 

Raphael has been staring at their conversation for the past 15 minutes or so. He’s left the office at 6:03 sharp to make sure he won’t let Simon wait for too long since it’s fairly cool outside. He hadn’t expected that  _ he’d _ be the one to be waiting. Simon’s said he’d pick him up here and yet there’s still no sign of him.

The most surprising thing, though, is that Magnus doesn’t even show up to give him company. He’d thought he’d cheer him up or maybe make a joke out of it, but the other just doesn’t appear. Raphael certainly doesn’t want to call for him because it would mean admitting how much he’s looked forward to seeing Simon.

He sighs and turns to leave when he suddenly hears someone call behind him.

“Raphael! Oh, thank God, you’re still here.” Simon comes running up to him, panting hard when he stops, “Hey, say… Is it - uff - offensive when I say ‘thank God’? I mean, I’m Jewish but not  _ really _ that much into it but you are, like,  _ really _ religious, so--”

Raphael chuckles. “ _ Buenas noches _ to you, too, Simon.”

“Woah, isn’t that something you say as goodbye? I didn’t mean to let you wait! It’s just-- Maia broke the coffee machine and needed help to fix it so I helped her and now--”

“Simon, I’m not leaving. I just said hello.”

“Oh,” Simon makes, taking another breath before he breaks into a smile. “Hello, then.”

Raphael can’t help but smile back as he puts his phone back into his pocket. “So, where are we going?”

“Well, we could either eat Chinese or some fast food. Personally, I’ve had fast food for the past week or so, but if you want, we can go there.”

Raphael shakes his head. “Chinese is fine by me. Let’s go there.”

The restaurant Simon is leading them to when happens to be just outside of Harlem. Ít’s quite a long walk until they’re there, but soon enough they’re so involved in talking that neither of them even thinks of taking the subway. He’s just told Simon that he plays the piano occasionally (causing Simon to be really excited about how they could make music together some time), when they arrive at the “Jade Wolf”.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t look like a typical Chinese restaurant inside. There’s none of these balloon lamps, no pictures of mountains or the like that you find at a stereotypical Asian-themed place.

“This used to be a police station,” Simon tells him and shrugs, “They decided to roll with it.”

When they sit down across each other, Raphael can see that the counter at the back of the restaurant still looks like the reception of a station. Simon recommends him several dishes as he scans through the menu, describing each and every flavour in it. Apparently, he is one of these people who eat a lot and praise every single bite.

“Good evening, I’m Bat and I’m your--”, a tall man who just came up to their table says. “Oh, hey, Simon! What can I get you?”

Raphael can barely even register what Simon orders before both guys dive into a conversation about… movies? He doesn’t know which exactly, but soon enough words like “Mjölnir” and “Winter Soldier” fall. They come to no conclusion yet, but the waiter says that he has to get going or he’s gonna get in trouble so Raphael quickly orders the same as Simon.

Once the waiter is gone, Raphael looks at Simon with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

Raphael shrugs, “Nothing, you just discussed comic book movies with a guy called  _ Bat _ .”

Simon’s eyes go wide, “Do you read comics?”

“I’ve read a few.”, Raphael admits, not exactly feeling like telling him that  _ Superman _ is one of the things that made him feel welcome in the US.

“Oh, that’s cool! Actually, I have no idea what Bat’s full name is. Bartholomew maybe? Not that that would help the comic book case…”, Simon adds.

“Well, as long as his last name is not Allen.”, Raphael says and earns one of Simon’s thousand-watt smiles.

Soon enough, the waiter comes back and as they eat, he and Simon pick up their conversation again. Raphael hasn’t had the chance before to watch how Simon interacts with people, but he has to admit it’s pretty entertaining. He’s not rambling as much as when he talks to Raphael (he wonders why that is), but he gestures as much and grins a lot. 

“Sorry, I keep you from talking to your date.”, Bat says after some time and extends his hand to Raphael. “As I mentioned, I’m Bat. Hi.”

“Raphael.”, he replies, shaking his hand.

Bat looks him up and down and Raphael only notices now that he’s probably the best dressed person in the restaurant. Everyone else is wearing casual clothes, while he’s still in his suit.

“Where did you get  _ him _ ?”, Bat motions to him as he looks at Simon.

Raphael can’t help but chuckle.

“Don’t you, like, have any work to do?”, Simon exclaims, his voice sounding alarmed. Raphael can see how he’s blushing.

As a response, Bat laughs and gets up from where he was leaning against the table next to theirs. “Fine, I’m going. Enjoy your meal, boys.”

When he’s gone, Simon’s staring down at his bowl, rolling his noodles onto the fork. Raphael can’t help but smile at the grumpy face he makes.

“So, he seems nice.”

“He’s a jerk, that’s what he is.”, Simon replies, still staring down at his food.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to offend you,” Raphael states, “He was just teasing you.” While he’s a bit disappointed at Simon’s reaction to someone assuming they’re on a date, he wants to make sure that he’d be okay with it not being one. But then he wonders, why would Bat even come up with thinking it’s a date when Simon’s not interested in men? “Except for… if he hit right on.”

“What?”, Simon asks, panic written on his face.

“I’m just making sure.”, Raphael tells him, “Is this a date? I wouldn’t mind if it were.”

“You… wouldn’t?”, Simon says slowly.

“No. But I wouldn’t be mad if it wasn’t, either.”

“I, um, I’d like it to be one.”, Simon admits.

Raphael smiles. “Then let’s count it as one. Only if it turns out nice,  _ por supuesto _ , though I have no doubts it will.”

And then, the dynamic between them only changes so slightly. Simon seems more anxious again, and Raphael can feel himself smile even more than before, but all in all it’s the same as before. There’s no pressure between them to make it better than it would have been and they continue talking like nothing changed.

Raphael finds Simon’s presence calming, despite his jumpy nature and loud voice, he enjoys listening to him even though the topics themselves aren’t actually interesting to him. Just hearing  _ how _ Simon tells them pulls him in enough.

“I’d thought of texting you yesterday, actually,” Simon says, “but I figured you wouldn’t have wanted to be disturbed at your family’s.”

“It’s not like I don’t ever look at my phone then. After all, I’m pretty much always on call. Especially now that…”, Raphael stops himself. “What would’ve caused the message?”

Simon shrugs. “I don’t know anymore. Either something reminded me of you or I felt like telling you what I was doing.”

“What  _ were _ you up to yesterday?”

“Homework, mostly. I’d crashed at Clary’s before, though, so I had breakfast with her family. Best pancakes in the world, I tell ya.”

“You know,” Raphael starts, playing with the rest of his food, “I’d originally thought this Clary was your girlfriend.”

“What? Oh no, we’re totally just best friends! I mean, I used to have a crush on her and all, but nope. She’s got a boyfriend and I’m over her and now I’m here with you and… yeah.”

Raphael smiles at him. “Your rambling should be the most vexing thing in the world, but somehow it’s… cute.”

Simon blushes in response.

 

They walk back to Spanish Harlem again despite it already being pretty late when they’ve left the restaurant. While they’ve just walked side by side before, somehow their hands find each other after some time. Simon’s is a bit sweaty, but Raphael doesn’t mind, it’s warm and comforting and makes him  _ happy _ . 

“So… Was this a date now?”, Simon asks after a while.

Raphael raises an eyebrow at him. “Would I be holding your hand if it hadn’t been?”

Simon grins at him, “I don’t know, would you?”

“If you asked, probably.”, Raphael sighs. “I don’t even want to  _ know _ how much power your puppy eyes would have over me.”

Simon chuckles, “Maybe you’ll find out soon enough.”

“Come on, I'll bring you to the subway.”, Raphael changes the topic. “Last time, you brought me home. I won’t quite return the favour, but I’ll do my best.”

At the station, they’re pretty much alone. Apparently, the middle of Spanish Harlem is not the metropole of a Monday night. 

“I enjoyed myself tonight.”, Simon says, reciting something that’s said in almost every other teenage romcom. 

“Me too.”, Raphael answers. And then, much to his own surprise, he adds, “Listen, I have this thing from work to attend on Friday and if you wanted, you could be my plus one. I’m not entirely sure yet if I even actually go, but if not we could just do something else?”

Simon grimaces at that. “Oh. I’m sorry, but I already have plans for Friday…”

“Well, that’s fine. It’s not like that’s…”, Raphael starts but gets interrupted by the arrival of the subway. “Uh, off you go.”

Simon gives him an apologetic smile before pressing his lips against Raphael’s cheek. “Get home safe!”

“You better send me a text once you’re at home.”

“Will do!”, Simon promises as he gets inside.

A moment later, the subway is gone.

“So, what do you say, Mr. I-Do-Not-Want-To-Date-Simon?”, Magnus teases. Raphael’s sure that if he could touch him, he’d poke his side.

“‘Shut up’ is what I say,” Raphael answers, rolling his eyes playfully. He starts walking towards the stairs.

“Oh yes, be mad at the literal matchmaker.”, Magnus answers, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

“What do you mean?”, Raphael turns around to where Magnus is standing.

“Oh damn, I shouldn’t have said that.”, Magnus says quickly. “Just… forget it?”

Raphael steps up to him. “Oh no, I will not.”

Magnus sighs. “Fine. Remember how I said Camille’s not the only thing that made me appear?”

“What, the other is Simon?”

“Well, yeah.”, Magnus admits. “You know, it’s not like soulmates necessary exist in the wide-spread sense but… sometimes we just know when two people would be good for each other… And, you know, you’re really stubborn! I’ve tried to get you to meet Simon before, with little clues here and there, but you somehow always got out of it. So I had to appear and  _ tell _ you.”

Raphael blinks. “Do you mean that Simon and I are  _ supposed _ to be dating?”

“Not necessarily  _ dating _ . Just be in each other’s lives…”, Magnus answers, “But the attraction is there and all, right?”

“I’m not  _ attracted _ to anyone,” Raphael says.

“Yeah, no, I know that whole asexuality thing.”, Magnus nods, “But, like, you like him and he likes you and you’re totally in love with his smile and--”

“Okay, yes, I get it.”

“Well?”

“What?”

“No ‘thank you, Magnus’?”

Raphael rolls his eyes, “Thank you, Magnus. And now let’s get home.”

“Race ya.”, Magnus grins before he disappears into thin air.


	11. Chapter 10

Raphael is usually the first one to enter the office. He locks it every evening since he's usually also the last one to leave. So, naturally, it's a big surprise for him when the door’s unlocked. 

Shock runs through his mind as he wonders if he'd forgotten to lock it last night. He has been eager to get to Simon - had he just thrown the door closed behind him without actually locking it? If yes, everybody could have come in last night, causing trouble he's doesn't even want to  _ think _ about. 

The other option, of course, seems even more awful to him at the moment. He'd been on such a high after his date with Simon that he'd just  _ forgotten _ about what he needs to do at work. 

The only person next to him who has a key is Camille. 

Suddenly he kind of hopes that he did forget to lock. Of course, that would mean he’s endangered the entire company and everything inside the building, but it would still be better than what this would mean. 

When he enters at last and sees that the light is turned on in Camille’s office, he’s shortly thinking about going back home. He’s meant to face her for the past few days, yes, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready now that he  _ has _ to do it. 

“You can do it.”, Magnus’ voice says into his ear, stating a fact. He’s not cheering on him or  _ hoping _ \- he just knows. 

Raphael decides to believe him and walks towards the glass box that is Camille’s office.

“Camille.”, he says, straightening his back so that he seems taller, trying to look more like a threat to her. 

She looks up at him with pursed lips. She's sitting behind her desk, having read something on her computer screen. “Raphael. You're late.”

Raphael shakes his head. “My shift starts at 8:15. It's 7:30.”

“Then you're early.”, Camille smiles. It looks like an empty promise, somehow. 

“Am I interrupting you with something?”

“No, I was just--”

“Faking bills?”, Raphael proposes. 

Camille’s expression doesn’t even change. Instead, she keeps her sly smile and even breaks into a little laugh. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, don’t act like this.”, Raphael says, stepping closer. “I got behind this little game you’re playing! What do you think you’re doing with this?”

Camille stills looks at him. He can see that she knows what he’s referring to, but she doesn’t say anything. 

“I have reason to believe that you have lied about how many supplies we order. I have  _ proof _ .”, Raphael says, itching to reach into his pocket where he’s kept Camille’s bills ever since he’s found them. Showing her that he has them could make him lose them immediately again. He shouldn’t do it. “I’m going to go to the police.”

“They wouldn’t believe you.”, Camille states. She doesn’t deny what she’s done.

“I will make them believe.”

“If I fall, this whole company will fall, Raphael.”, Camille says, her smile returning. “Each and every worker will be fired.  _ You _ will be fired. You will be destroyed. What would your precious mamá say about that?”

Raphael doesn’t return her smile. He points towards the door, towards the hall that’s still empty. “All those people? They didn’t have a single clue what’s going on. They  _ couldn’t _ have known. If this gets out, only you and me will be  _ majorly _ affected. I can live with that - I’m young and I can save my reputation, I have the time for that. But what about you?”, he curls up the corners of his mouth into a sarcastic smile. “ _ You _ have the main responsibility here. You’ll have the most problems.”

“Tell me, what is the issues with all of this? Who cares if I lied here and there. Did it do any harm to you?  _ No _ , honey, I made it possible that you have so much money.”

“I don’t  _ care _ about your money! Man, if I earned less, then I’d just move into a  smaller flat or something, who cares?”, Raphael spits at her. “What you’ve been doing is  _ wrong _ and dangerous, don’t you get it?”

“So, what? You want me to stop or else you go to the police?”

“I want you to  _ leave _ this company.”, Raphael answers. That hadn’t originally been his plan but as he sees how little Camille seems to  _ care _ about what she’s been doing, he thinks that there’s only one way to stop her from continuing behind his back.

“And you think I’m gonna do this, just  _ because _ ?”

“This whole company is against you. All of our employees don’t think much of you as the leader.”, Raphael says. “They may not know  _ what _ you’re doing, but they know you’re doing nothing good.”

Camille chuckles as she gets up from her chair, stepping closer until there’s only inches between them. “Oh, yes? And who do they want to be their leader? You?”

“We’ll see about that.”, Raphael says. “You have the day to pack. If you’re not gone then, I’m going to go to the nearest station.”

“You won’t.”

“Is that a dare?”, Raphael raises an eyebrow. Then he turns to leave the room, “You have till 5:30, sharp.” 

He walks out of the office without turning back. It itches him to know whether she stares at him with her mouth hanging open or not, but he knows it will only ruin the impact if he looks back at her. 

Only when he’s settled behind his desk does he realize what he’s just done. He takes a few deep breaths before he breaks into a chuckle - even when he sees people enter the main office.

“That was a good show you put on, I gotta say.”, Magnus says and appears on the said of his desk, leaning against it and turning his head to look at him. “You seemed really scary for a second there.”

“I just  _ blackmailed _ my boss.”, Raphael states, still laughing. The whole situation is too absurd and he’s relieved to have finally taken the burden off his shoulders. He’s played his cards, now he has to wait for Camille’s actions.

“Yes, and  _ how _ you did it!”, Magnus cheers and gives him a wide smile.

“True, but who knows what it will bring me?”, Raphael answers. “Why can’t you just give me a flash forward to what’s going to come?”

“That’s because I don’t know it either.”, Magnus tells him.

Raphael watches as his smile turns into an apologetic one at first before it disappears completely. Magnus starts frowning in the next second and fidgets with his hands, looking around a lot.

“What’s wrong?”, Raphael wants to know. “I didn’t just full-on ruin my life right away, did I?”

Magnus shakes his head. “Quite the contrary. I tend to believe you just saved it.”, he tells him. “However, you’ve done the things that I was here for…”

Raphael looks at him. He knows what’s about to happen, but he doesn’t want to think about it. Even if he’s only knows Magnus for the past week, he’d pretty much consider him a friend - the first one since he’s moved to New York. Of course, Magnus has been pretty biased towards him in this relationship, but at least someone has been there to talk to. Someone to share his thoughts with and to speak to him openly. 

“You’ve dealt with Camille, you have properly met Simon… Your life is back in proper position and I trust you to not fuck it up again.”

Raphael chuckles at that but it halfway sounds like a sob. He’s glad Magnus doesn’t drive on the sentimental road at this point.

But then, of course, he does. “You’ve grown into a wonderful person, honey. I mean, you’re freakishly stubborn and grumpy at times - oh God, Simon doesn’t even know  _ that _ yet - but overall, you’re pretty neat. I’m proud of you.”

Raphael swallows. “You… won’t come back?”

Magnus shakes his head. “No. I don’t think you’re gonna be this dangerously close to summoning me - or, you  _ better _ not be. Because if you are, I’m gonna stop by and hand you your ass.”

“You wouldn’t be able to touch me.”, Raphael reminds him.

“Where there’s a will, there is a way.”, Magnus says with a soft smile. “Feel hugged, sweetheart. And remember: you won’t see me, but I’m still there.”

“Thank you, Magnus.”, Raphael says quietly, keeping his eyes on his guardian angel. “And goodbye.”

“This may sound weird, but I hope we don’t see each other again.”, Magnus closes and salutes at him. 

And in the next moment, he’s disappeared.

Raphael stares at the spot he's been sitting at for a moment, kind of hoping that his friend would appear again and saying he's just been joking. He doesn't. 

And even if he's said he has to leave because he motioned Raphael to  _ act _ , he can't help but wonder if it means he's safe - that Camille will obey. He fights back the urge to get up and check if she's still in her office (it really wouldn't put him in a good light). He also fights back the urge to do something stupid in the hopes of Magnus coming back. 

The fate of the company might lie in his hands so he decides to follow his normal work pace as good as possible. He's not certain if Camille leaving means he's gonna become the leader officially - he doesn't even know if he  _ wants _ to, but more importantly, he doesn't know if the employees would want him to be. No, he'd explain the situation to them and let them decide what to do then. They'll know best, he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, guys, I'm currently writing a follow-up oneshot starring Magnus. I'll try to finish it as soon as I've completed posting this fic.
> 
> Thanks for the love!


	12. Chapter 11

To pass the time, Raphael makes a few phone calls to several people - most of them are quite unnecessary but right now, he needs to keep himself busy. He even calls the catering service to ask if everything is set - the company may be at its end, but the food for The Circle’s party will be needed anyway and is already paid. 

A few times he finds himself whispering Magnus’ name into the room. It's not that he wants to speak to him about a particular topic but rather he wants to test if he's really gone. There's no response. 

He considers texting Simon. He'd probably find a way to distract him or cheer him up. The thing is, though, Raphael can't really tell him about anything that's going on. If he told him about Magnus, he'd probably think Raphael’s crazy. He can't tell him about Camille either because Simon has nothing to do with the politics of the company. Especially not when he doesn't know what's going to happen yet. He wouldn't know anything else to talk to him about, though. 

Frustrated, he groans and shoves his chair away from the desk, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. 

He looks up when there's a clear sound of high heels coming from the main room. It's accompanied by the hiss of Camille’s voice, slurring the words. 

Raphael shoots a look at the clock - it's not even noon yet and Camille sounds  _ drunk _ . He’d wanted her to leave as soon as possible but not like  _ this _ . That is, if she even wants to leave right now.

He gets up from his seat and rushes out of his office and what he sees is quite a scene.

Camille’s standing in the middle of the room, pointing her finger at someone. On first sight, she looks just pretty angry but as he steps closer, Raphael can see that her lipstick’s a little smeared and her dress’s strap is askew.

She notices him soon enough, pointing her finger at him. She’s grinning widely with big eyes. Raphael would be lying if he said it doesn’t look creepy as hell.

“ _ Boy _ , am  _ I _ gonna ruin  _ your _ life.”

“Camille, how much have you had?”, he says quietly. 

As response she snorts. “I’m gonna send you into your own personal Spanish hell, my darling!”, a grin curls around every single word. “And your poor little mamá will be pulled down right away, too.”

At that, Raphael sees red. It’s one thing to threaten him with that or even make fun of his mother’s life, but if she has the audacity to claim his  _ mother _ is going to  _ hell _ \- his mother who has never done anything wrong, his mother who deserves only the best for all she’s been through - that’s enough.

“First of all, I’m not  _ Spanish _ .”, he tells her, stepping forward so that her index finger is poking against his chest. “And second, don’t you ever dare talking about my mother with that dirty mouth of yours.”

He’s registered a crowd building up around them, all of the people resent having risen up to watch the drama.

“You’re in no condition to be in this company right now, Camille.”, Raphael continues. “Would anyone like to help her out?”, he adds, looking up to his co-workers.

A few people look as if they were about to move and yet, they remain in their spots. Raphael should’ve expected that the fear of Camille - especially in this situation - overweighs but he can’t help but feel a rush of horror sweep through his mind.

Camille breaks into another laughter. “What, you really thought they’d listen to  _ you _ rather than  _ me _ ?”

“They will when they hear what you’ve done.”, Lily’s voice comes up. Raphael can see out of the corner of his eye how she makes her way to the front. “Shall we tell them?”, she asks, mirroring Camille’s smile.

“I don’t care!”, Camille claims then, throwing her arms into the air. Her fingernail scratches over Raphael’s cheek in the motion. “This dump is ruined anyway! And you’ve all been too  _ dumb _ to figure out what’s going on! Soon enough, you will all sit under a bridge because you’re idiots like that!”

Being downright insulted seems to break the spell. Raphael is barely able to notice how several people move at the same time before he gets pushed back. For a short moment a movie image of a pack of wolfs going down on a prey rushes through his mind, but in the next second, two people have grabbed Camille’s arm, pulling her towards the exit.

“Wow, what the hell was that?”, someone asks, whistling through his teeth. Raphael thinks it’s Jordan.

“I think,” he says slowly, “that was Camille leaving the company.”

“But why? I mean, I ain’t complaining but what brought that on?”

“Yeah, didn’t you say she did something?”, someone else adds, “What was that about?”

Raphael exchanges a look with Lily, who is now standing next to him. He hadn’t exactly thought about telling the workers  _ anything _ to prevent a massive panic from happening. He’d thought that maybe they could keep the whole thing on a  low profile and just say something about Camille wanting to leave or something the like.

After the scene that Camille has put on, that won’t be possible, so he shrugs at her.

Lily nods and starts explaining the issue. Raphael corrects her when she says that  _ they _ have noticed something odd in the calculations and says that he hadn’t even noticed without Lily. 

“What does this mean for us?”, a woman asks.

“Hopefully nothing.”, Raphael says. “I’m sure that whoever will be in charge next will do their best to keep the damage as small as possible.”

“So you’re not the new CEO?”

“Not if you don’t want me to.”

They all fall silent at that. Raphael can’t blame them. After all, he’s been  _ Camille’s _ second. Plus, he has just admitted that he’s probably the most oblivious person. He could understand if they don’t want him.

“And what do we do now?”

“I propose we finish whatever we have been doing before Camille had her fallout.”, someone else shouts.

Raphael is actually quite impressed to hear that idea from someone in the crowd. And most of them actually  _ nod _ .

“Would it be possible to close the company for a day without losing anything?”, Lily asks him quietly. “And more importantly, without  _ them _ losing anything? If we have to elect a new leader, we need time to think about everything.”

Raphael nods, “I think that’s possible.” Then, more loudly, he says, “So, the proposed plan for now is the following: we continue working at least half the day and tomorrow is off. On Thursday, we’ll vote for the new CEO.”

Again, he’s met with nods and a few people even cheer. Raphael wonders if they are aware that, maybe, the company won’t exist anymore on Thursday - they rely on Camille’s behaviour. If she keeps quiet, they can make it. If she acts up, they probably won’t.

 

Raphael can’t relax. He’s been at home for the past three hours and usually, that’s no problem for him. He’s used to being on his own for a whole day. However, today, he just can’t make it. He’s jumpy and plays with everything and nothing he can touch. He’s played the piano for an hour before he ran out of things he knew to play. He blames Magnus for his restlessness. 

Why does this man - this  _ angel _ \- show him how nice it can be to always have someone around before he just disappears like that? Why can’t he have at least stayed until the whole mess is  _ over _ ?

It’s another point of Raphael’s nervousness - not only that he’s alone but also that he’s  _ waiting _ . The TV’s been running in the background for a while, waiting for the local news picking up on what’s been happening. Someone must have caught sight of Camille stumbling through the streets in her drunk state, right?

He’s done the  _ Angelus Domini _ , asking the Lord to help him out of his mess and to give him strength for what may be about to happen. He’s called for Magnus a few times, hoping for the other to appear but he’s meant it when he said he wouldn’t come by any more.

There’s been nothing yet and Raphael doesn’t know what to do. He can’t leave his flat because he needs to  _ know _ when something happens. And frankly, while he feels more lonely than in a while, he doesn’t feel like seeing anyone. Not even strangers on the street. 

That’s why he just stares at his phone when it goes off. He lets it ring a few times before even checking the caller ID.

It’s Simon.

He keeps staring at the phone like it could explode any second. He could turn the call away - that would probably be the best, seeing how boisterous he is at the moment. At the same time, though, it’s  _ Simon _ . He can’t just turn away  _ Simon _ .

“Yes?”, he answers slowly.

“Raphael!”, Simon says loudly. He sounds like he’s somewhere outside. “Hey, what’s up?”

Some part in Raphael immediately thinks he’s referring to the situation the company is in.

“I’ve planned on picking you up at work but you aren’t here. In fact,  _ nobody _ is here. Do you have a field day?”

“Pretty much.”, Raphael says bitterly.

“Oh.”, Simon makes. “Does that mean you have no time?”

“Exactly. I have no time for you or your band or Clary and her  _ talent _ , Simon.”, he shoots back. Somehow he sounds meaner than he’d planned to. 

Simon doesn’t say anything.

“I’ll call you back.”, Raphael promises, trying to fix the conversation.

Simon stays quiet for a while. Then he says, “Okay, fine. Bye, Raph.” 

He sounds  _ sad _ and Raphael knows it’s his fault but he can’t make himself say anything more. He hangs up quickly before he ruins even more. 

And then he throws his phone away, swearing loudly. At himself, at Camille, at Magnus. At everyone.

“Great, you  _ maldito _ \-- fucking--  _ pedazo de mierda _ !”, he hisses loudly. “What the  _ fuck _ am I supposed to  _ do _ ?”

He knocks over the glass of water on his table as he throws his arms in the air, supporting his swears with wild gestures.

“Oh, damn,  _ venga _ \--”, he mutters when he picks the glass up. The water has spread out on the table - luckily barely touched the newspaper that he’s still got to read. Funnily enough, there’s only two drops on the paper, wide apart of each other.

He eyes it in confusion, because something like that can’t happen, and noticed that both drops have landed on the same letters in the words “man” and “mayor”. It kind of looks as if a highlighter had been eager to mark out the word “mama”.

With all that’s been happening in the past week, he doesn’t need long to understand that it’s a sign, let it be from Magnus or God. He gets up and grabs his keys, making his way to the Subway.


	13. Chapter 12

Raphael’s standing in the middle of a huge ballroom close to Broadway. The walls are decorated in a fair purple and there’s some op song playing. He’s never before been at one of Valentine Morgenstern’s parties, but if that what they all are like, he seems to be a different man than Raphael had thought.

He had spent the rest of the Tuesday at his mother’s place, even staying there for the night, before he had made his way back home on Wednesday evening. He hasn’t directly told her any of the things that have been going wrong in his life, but she has been smart enough to understand that they upset him a great deal. 

When he’s said he had been an idiot towards a friend, she had looked at him like she  _ understood _ . As if she knew that whoever he was talking about has not  _ just _ been a friend, despite the fact that he was calling Simon a  _ he _ . 

When he’d come back to the office on Thursday, Camille still hadn’t acted up, so the voting had gone by way faster than he’d expected. While being at his mother’s, he’d thought about how much  _ Lily _ has done, seeing how she has just been a “normal” worker with no high position. She’s done what he should’ve done before and proven that she could be a leader character. So, logically, he’d suggested her for the position. And most of his co-workers have agreed.

Lily has accepted, although she’s looked quite surprised, and her first order had been that Raphael stays co-president of the company. Followed by telling him to tell her “what the hell she is even supposed to do”. He thinks she’ll be great at her job.

He’s also tried to call Simon several times - there’s not been an hour in the past days where he hasn’t dialed his number at least once. He’s never picked up. Raphael could understand if he doesn’t want to talk to him anymore, seeing what a prick he had been, but it hurts him nonetheless. They haven’t even had the chance of becoming  _ something _ .

“Raphael, so good to see you. Say, why has Camille declined my invitation so suddenly?”

Raphael gives his best show smile at the bald man in front of him. Somehow, Lily has managed to get hide away before they’ve even properly entered the room. Seeing how he had been invited already and still needed a date, and how she couldn’t just take up Camille’s invite because the new leadership has not yet been made public, they had decided to go there together.

“Valentine.”, he shakes his hand. “There’s been a few differences within the company. You know how it is.”

“I hope it doesn’t concern our relations.”, Valentine offers with a little laughter. Raphael can’t really make out if it’s honest or staged.

“I’m sure it won’t.”, Raphael assures him. 

He scans through the crowd, looking if he can find Lily anywhere. He didn’t just bring her because he couldn’t show up on his own. More so, he was relying on some company at least, seeing how he’s had to say goodbye to Magnus but also had this stupid fight with Simon. In short, he’s feeling more lonely than he’s done in a long time.

He doesn’t find Lily but his eyes stop at the sight of long red hair - something he’s seen some time ago. He watches the hair with a frown. Red hair isn’t even that a strange thing to encounter in New York so why does it remind him of something?

“Do you know my daughter?”, Valentine asks. 

Raphael looks up to see him look into the same direction. “Your daughter?”

“The girl in the green dress other there.”, Valentine nods into the red-heads direction. “Clary.”

Clary. The name and the hair together can’t be a coincidence. He remembers seeing her hair as she ran past him even before he’d set eyes onto Simon the first time that they met. He’s pretty sure that this is  _ Simon’s _ Clary.

“Oh yes, I-- um, I know her. Will you excuse me as I say hello?”

“Of course.”, Valentine says with a way too friendly smile, “As long as this doesn’t mean the confusion of private and business life.”

“Oh no, I can assure you this will not be the case.”, Raphael answers and waits for Valentine to nod him off. When he does, he rushes into Clary’s direction.

As soon as he’s close enough to her, he calls her name, grabbing her upper arm to get her attention. 

“Hey!”, she hisses as she turns away from her friend - Raphael recognizes the combination of golden hair and two differently coloured eyes from somewhere but can’t quite place it.

“I’m sorry,” Raphael says and lets go off her arm. “You’re… you know Simon Lewis, right? I’m a friend of his--”

He can practically see when she realizes. “You’re  _ Raphael _ .”, she breathes. Then her face gets angry. “What are  _ you _ doing  _ here _ ?”

“Relax,” Raphael says, “I’m a partner of your father’s company.”

“You’re what now?”, the guy says, stepping between him and Clary. What exactly his problem is, Raphael doesn’t know, but he looks at him like he could be a spy or something the like.

“Anyway,” Raphael says, shooting an irritated look at him, “I-- could I talk to you? More… privately.”

“Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Jace.”

“It’s about Simon.”

“My point stands.”, Clary says, crossing her arms.

Raphael grimaces. “I suppose he told you about me being an absolute jerk?”

Clary nods.

“I have realized that immediately and it’s been because I had some major issues at work and probably also with myself.”, Raphael says. “I know it doesn’t excuse it but I need to talk to him to fix … whatever that is with us. So if you could just make him talk to me again, I’d appreciate it.”

“What company are you even here for?”, Jace asks.

“Does this really matter now?”

“Answer his question.”, Clary demands, pressing her lips together. She looks really pissed at him.

“DuMont Industries.”, Raphael sighs.

“Oh man, seriously?”, Jace laughs. “Simon is an idiot.”

“Hey!”, Raphael says. Only when Clary looks at him does he realize she’s said it at the same time.

“No, seriously. Clary. DuMont Industries. That’s Isabelle’s workplace.”

“Isabelle?”, Raphael asks, raising an eyebrow. “Lightwood? You know her?”

“She’s Jace’s adoptive sister.”, Clary explains. Now Raphael understands where he knows the guy from- Simon’s friend from Java Jones. “She works for you?”

“Uhm, yes.”

“Anyway, she’s told us that your boss resigned and that the whole company is turned all over and what not--”, Jace says, “I guess that’s the issues you were referring to?”

Raphael nods. He can’t even be mad at Isabelle for telling her family about this.

“So, if Simon had used his head and  _ listened _ , he’d have known why Raphael’s not really been up for chatter.”, Jace finishes, talking more to Clary than to him. “No reason to be that down for half a week.”

“Oh.”, Clary says before directing her gaze back at Raphael. “Listen, I don’t appreciate you being a jerk to my best friend but apparently, you weren’t thinking straight.”

“I really wasn’t.”, Raphael admits. “So, will you help me now?”

Clary nods. “Actually, he’s here. He’s probably checking out the equipment of the band.”

“What? He’s here?”, Raphael says, running his hands over his suit to straighten it. “I’m gonna-- thank you!”, he adds quickly before turning and looking for the best way to get to the stage.

He sees Simon kneeling next to the amplifier before he’s even close to the band. They’re currently playing an acoustic song, so he’s glad to know Simon’s not prone to ruining something that’s in use.

Simon’s dressed accordingly to the gala’s motto - a dark blue suit that hugs his hips perfectly, and even his pants look neither too long nor too short, judging from how they appear as he's kneeling there. Raphael doesn't know what exactly Simon is doing there, not only because he's never needed to use an amp in his whole life but more so because Simon’s back is turned toward him, shielding the device from his view. But it doesn't matter because the amp is not why he's going there. 

He takes a deep breath - he should have know this week is going to be him facing difficult situations ever since Magnus had revealed to be his guardian Angel, probably - and walks up to Simon. The other doesn't hear him over the sounds of the band and only reacts when Raphael tips on his shoulder. 

Simon actually looks a bit pissed off as he turns around, most likely cursing whoever dares to interrupt him, but the expression falls when he sees Raphael. He can't exactly make out what his face is showing now - there's been a slight smile, followed by some narrowed brows and at last a confused look on it. 

“Raphael?”, he mouths. 

Raphael gives him a small smile and gestures for him to follow away from the stage. He's glad that Simon actually does it and leads him out of the ballroom. 

“What are you doing here?”, Simon asks. He doesn't sound as angry as Clary had been - more curious. “I thought you had somewhere to be?”

“This  _ is _ where I had to be.”, Raphael answers softly. He eyes Simon carefully, waiting for him to explode. To be mad at him. “What are  _ you _ doing here?”

“ _ This _ is my plans.”, Simon answers, “I’m Clary’s very platonic date.”

“How is her boyfriend here then?”, Raphael wonders.

“Valentine invites him to all of these things. He’s his son after all.”

“Hang on,” Raphael says, “ _ What _ ? Valentine has just told me Clary is his  _ daughter _ .”

“Oh! No, it’s not like  _ that _ .”, Simon says quickly, “No incest happening here, oh my God. It’s a long story, but in short: Valentine is Clary’s biological dad but he left before her birth and he raised Jace but, um, they’re not related.”

Raphael shakes his head. He doesn’t even want to get further into that yet. After all, Clary has said that Jace was Isabelle Lightwood’s adoptive brother and if Valentine were Isabelle’s father, he would have known about this, probably. What stands out, however, is that everything leads back to Simon. Magnus was right, he could’ve met him a  _ thousand _ times before and yet he never did.

“Listen, Simon, I could understand if you hate me. I’ve been an idiot.”, Raphael says.

“What?”, Simon exclaims, “Why would I hate you?”

Raphael looks at him. “I was awful to you when you called and then you didn’t pick up when I--”

“Oh no,” Simon grimaces, “When I was on my way home on Tuesday, I broke my phone. Fell right into a puddle. And then it was dead. I wanted to call you on the landline yesterday, but then I noticed I don’t have your number memorized.”

“You… what? You tried to call  _ me _ ?”, Raphael asks. “But I was-- I thought I pissed you  _ off _ !”

“What? No! You sounded angry -- tired, I guess. I bet there was a lot going on, wasn’t it? I mean, I get it. Sometimes you need a break.”, Simon shrugs. He gives him a small smile and reaches forward to take his hand.

“You’re not mad at me?”, Raphael wants to know. “But Clary…”

“Clary got mad on my behalf. She’s got a bad temper.”, Simon shakes his head. “I think it’s too early for that stage. Give it a month or two.”

Raphael snorts with a smile. “So… would you like to dance?”, he asks as he squeezes Simon’s hand. In this moment, he wouldn’t mind a room full of strangers knowing that he likes boys - or this boy in particular.

“I’m bad on my feet but I’ll try.”, Simon answers and pulls him back inside. 

Their hands probably intertwine by themselves, Raphael’s other finding Simon’s hip and pulling him closer. The song is another acoustic one and they can sway back and forth, holding on to each other as they turn and turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the last one!   
> Thanks for reading, you guys! :)


	14. Epilogue

Raphael hasn’t seen Magnus in two months. He’d like to claim that he doesn’t _need_ to see him, but that would be a lie. And lying is a sin.

Now that he knows of the existence of his helpful friend, he finds himself wishing for his support in the most random situations.

He’s wished Magnus would appear when they had made public that DuMont Industries would have a new boss. Somehow, there’s not been as much journalists as he had thought.

He’s wished Magnus would appear when he met Simon for their second proper date. He’s never dated anyone before and he can’t possibly see why someone with a sunny personality like Simon would possibly want him. Somehow, he and Simon had shared their first kiss that night.

He’s wished Magnus would appear when Simon came to pick him up one afternoon and got involved in a conversation with Isabelle. He’s learned before that some time ago Simon and Isabelle had gone out but went back to being friends. Still, he’d felt a flush of jealousy run through his body. Somehow, Simon had just grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss onto his cheek when he left his office.

And while all of those pleads for Magnus’ help had been spontaneous and only been halfway meant that way, he is now basically _begging_ for him to appear. And all that despite the fact that he’s only just coming out of church with his mother. It’s not really a _thing_ that makes him anxious, but rather a _person_. Someone who’s standing in the rain and granting him a big smile when he steps closer.

“Hey, Raph.”, Simon beams at him before turning to Raphael’s family. “Hello, ma’am, I’m Simon Lewis.”, he says and shakes Guadalupe’s hand. After greeting Raphael’s brothers, he offers his mother his arm and takes her under his umbrella.

Raphael smiles at how hard he tries to seem perfect, despite the fact that he doesn’t need to.

His mother doesn’t know who Simon is to him - that sometimes his face is the last thing he sees before falling asleep and the first thing when he wakes up, that Simon is the one who can always reach something in him, no matter how busy he is. That Simon means the world to him already despite them only knowing each other for such a short time. He’s told her a good friend would want to meet his family and asked if she could cook a portion more. She’d gladly do it, she’s said.

Raphael can’t hear what they’re talking about because he’s walking behind them and the rain is loud as it hits the umbrella but a few times he sees Simon’s arm making wild gestures.

“Rafa, who is the man?”, Franco says, pulling on his arm that’s holding onto the umbrella that they are sharing.

“He introduced himself to you, Franco.”, he replies. “He’s Simon.”

“Yes, I know, but why is he here?”

“He wanted to meet you guys.”, Raphael tells him. “He’ll be having lunch with us.”

“But mamá says Sunday is family day. If we want to spent time with friends, we have to ask. They mustn’t come with us.”, Franco continues. “Diego was only allowed to meet Kathy the other day because she’s his _girlfriend_.”

Raphael feels uneasy at that, not sure what to answer. Apparently, Franco knows that Simon must be important to him if he’s invited - but how much does he truly realize?

“Franco, shut up.”, Ricardo cuts in, stepping up to them (and ignoring Diego’s complains about getting wet because Ricardo has taken the umbrella away), “If mamá says it’s fine he’s here, it’s fine.”

“But--”, Franco starts but nods then. “Okay. Can I play with him later?”

“If he wants to.”, Raphael nods and looks over to Ricardo. The other holds up a thumb for him and Raphael _knows_ that he knows. And that he doesn’t mind.

When they’re sitting at the table later, Simon seems a little overwhelmed by how many people want to talk to him. He’s seated between Raphael and Diego and is constantly looking around to direct his attention to whoever is speaking at the time. He tries to have an answer for each topic (although Raphael knows that he has no clue about Nietzsche’s philosophy that Ricardo started bringing up). The only person who stays more or less quiet is his mother, who rather watches the whole scenario. Simon’s presence even makes Diego, who usually doesn’t say much, speak up and _start_ a conversation.

Raphael isn’t surprised that Simon manages to get along with his brothers - after all, he’s _Simon_. He could probably make a stone talk to him. - but it’s nice to actually see it happening.

“Mamá, can we get up?”, Diego says when Simon’s mentioned that he’s in a band. “We _need_ to jam.”

Simon laughs at that and says, “Hey, I think I’m here for a little longer. Let’s eat first.”

Guadalupe beams at him at that.

Once they’re all finished, Franco and Diego get up before even completely shoving away their plates. Simon chuckles as he gets up to follow and grabs Raphael’s hand to pull him with him. Raphael can only throw his napkin onto the table and then he has to jump up before Simon makes him fall down from his chair.

“Woah,” Simon makes when they enter Ricardo’s old room. The bed is still there but the desk and wardrobe have been put away to make space for two guitars, a cheap drum set and a keyboard.

Diego turns to grin at him and Raphael notices that he’s still holding on to Simon’s hand. Somehow, he doesn’t feel the need to let go. Simon, however, drops it to lunge forward and pick up one of the guitars. He strums a few accords with a smile on his face.

Soon enough, they’re all playing something together. It sounds pretty horrible at times because at one point Franco is just _massacring_ his drums, but it’s a lot of fun and they only stop when Ricardo appears in the doorway. He looks at them with a smile on his lips, arms crossed.

“You don’t expect me to sing now, do you?”, Ricardo asks. “Because I have no idea what _that_ was supposed to be.”

As response, they all start laughing.

 

“ _Cari_ _ño_ , can I talk to you?”, Guadalupe asks, touching Raphael’s arm.

Raphael exchanges a look with Simon, who shrugs. “I’ll say goodbye to the boys.”, he says and turns to Raphael’s mother. “It was really nice to meet you, ma’am. The food was awesome.”

Guadalupe smiles. “Thank you. I hope we’ll meet again soon.”

After their little jam session, they’ve helped clean up before they had settled in the living room to chat some more. Soon enough, it got dark and Raphael had suggested they leave. It takes a while to get home by subway and Simon has to be in college tomorrow.

They’d just gone into the kitchen because Guadalupe has insisted they take home some leftovers.

“Me too,” Simon says and nods at her. Then he leaves the room.

“He’s _precioso_.”, Guadalupe says as she watches the door close.

Raphael nods without even thinking about it. When it dawns on him what he’s just done, he starts, “Oh, I--”

His mother looks at him with a smile, much to his relief. “He’s the friend you had a fight with when you were here, _verdad_?”

“It turns out it wasn’t that bad.”, Raphael admits.

“I’m glad. He seems to matter a lot to you.”

“He does, mamá.”, Raphael answers. He knows that he can’t exactly hide it any longer. “I… He’s-- actually, he’s my boyfriend.”

“I figured.”, Guadalupe nods.

Raphael waits for her to continue, but she doesn’t say anything. There’s nothing more except her nodding as she pats his arm. “You… are not mad?”

“Oh, no, _c_ _ari_ _ño,_ why should I?”, she asks, actually looking surprised. “No, no, if your _ángel_ didn’t stop you, it can’t be a bad thing, _no_?”

“I guess you’re right.”, Raphael says. He thinks about how Magnus has been trying to set them up for who knows how long. He reaches over to hug her. “Thank you, mamá.”

“ _De nada, mijo._ ”, Guadalupe answers. “Be happy.”

“I am.”, he says and lets go off her. “And now we really need to go.”

 

“Your family is _awesome_ !”, Simon cheers when they’re out on the street, throwing his fists in the air. “They’re so nice and adorable and talented and _nice_.”, he continues and Raphael chuckles at him.

“They think the same about you.”, he says and grabs the other’s hand.

“Really?”

Raphael nods. “My mother probably wants me to marry you, like, yesterday.”

Simon stops walking and  stares at him with big eyes.

“I told her.”, Raphael says. “I guess she kind of knew already.”

“Really? What did she say?”, Simon asks, stepping closer and curling his arm around Raphael’s waist as they continue walking. He presses a kiss on top of his head after asking.

“She doesn’t mind. She loves you too much already,” Raphael grins.

“Will she tell the others?”

Raphael shrugs. “Ricardo seems to have noticed. And Franco pretty much asked me if we are together five minutes after meeting you. I think Diego doesn’t care, really, after all he has his own _novia_.”

“Hm, that’s nice.”, Simon says. Then, all of sudden, he adds, “You should speak more Spanish.”

“Why’d you say that? You don’t know Spanish.”

“Well, I should! After all, I’m half Latino, too.”, Simon protests. “And, I mean, it’s a part of you. Like a third of your conversation earlier was in Spanish.”

Raphael hadn’t even noticed. It must have been really confusing for Simon if they really used so much Spanish. That must have been pretty rude.

“Not that I mind. I mean, we were at _your_ place after all and y’all can do what you want, you know?”, Simon shrugs. “Plus, it sounds nice.”

Raphael smirks. “Does it make me sound sexy?”

Simon huffs but kisses him shortly. “You need another language for that?”

Raphael chuckles and kisses him back. “We’ll see, _mi sol_.”

As they continue walking, arms curled around each other, they chatter a bit more about all kinds of things. Simon tells him that his band is considering a name change yet again. Raphael shakes his head at each of the suggestions.

“Jace’s favourite is ‘Pussy Destroyer’.”, Simon tells him with a grin.

Raphael rolls his eyes. “Oh yes, he’d like that.”

“Do you ever think about how often we could have met already? Maybe I’d have hated you if we had met differently.”, Simon voices.

Raphael shakes his head. “I would have found you annoying at most. But endearing. I think I would’ve fallen for you eventually.”

Simon’s blush is even visible in the dim light of the street lights.

“I like to believe you are a God-sent.”, Raphael tells him. Usually he doesn’t make any loose remarks connected to his beliefs, but this time he doesn’t feel like he’s exaggerating. After all, a literal angel has pointed him at Simon.

“Don’t be stupid,” Simon says softly and punches against his chest.

Raphael smiles to himself and for a second, he thinks he can see a glittery figure at the corner of the street who holds up both his thumbs. In the next moment he’s gone, but Raphael can tell that _now_ he has finally done everything right in his life. If even the angels approve...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a roll!  
> Thank you all for reading and leaving kudos and comments - although not all have been answered (due to the fact that it would look like this fic got more love than it deserves if I kept writing thank you notes to everyone), be assured I read all of them and appreciate the love you sent my way!
> 
> The aforementioned Magnus-centered Oneshot is not finished yet, but I'll try my best to finish it soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Since this is going to be a multichapter fic, comments are appreciated!
> 
> Here's the [tumblr link](http://joanthangroff.tumblr.com/post/148167531733/the-mountain-sink-below-me).


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